Flee in seven different directions
by Dark Gothic Lolita
Summary: Two years ago, they all went their own separate ways. Now, it's their final year in school their friendship is finding its way to re piece itself together. Oh, did I mention that Skull has had a HUGE crush on Lal since they were 11? More revolved around Skull x Lal, but other pairings inside. School AU and a crappy summary teehee
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Dark Gothic Lolita here!**

It has been a while since I last updated in general and an extremely long time since I wrote any new material for KHR! Wow, it feels so weird!

Well, basically, I've been working on this for a while now and I really wanted to write another Skull-centric story because I think he deserves it. My last one was a one shot songfic, but I think this should be a multi-chapter story as well as AU. It's still set in Italy, don't worry, but I come forth bearing this story as a gift! I really hope you enjoy it!

I shouldn't really have to write disclaimers, but oh well. I don't own KHR or any of their characters. Apologies for any poor spelling and grammar.

ENJOY!

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 **Flee in 7 different directions**

 **Chapter one**

"Fuck off Colonnello! What part of 'WE'RE OVER' don't you seem to understand?!" She hated this feeling so much. She hated the fact that he was able to worm his way into her life after she had built up so many walls, yet here he was, being able to knock them down just like that. Any other human and she wouldn't have even blinked. But with him? She was a wreck. She was in nothing but tears, her body shaking violently as she was sobbing. He made her weak and she hated that. I fact, she now hated _him_.

"Please, Lal! Just hear me out." He tried to bring his arms around her, but he forgot that she was the strongest girl in the school and she could very well look after herself. She grabbed his arm, twisted it and threw his taller body over her. His back slammed the floor, but not without letting a groan slip past his lips and he tried to open his eyes wider than they already were so that he wouldn't pass out. Lal released him before throwing a teary glare in his direction.

"Leave me the fuck alone, _maggot_."

She quickly ran away from him before anyone would come out of the classroom to see what all the ruckus was about. She was not going to her next class, fuck all of that shit. No, she was going to weep in the privacy of the outdoors while there was no out there yet. If it were last year or maybe even the year before that, she would have grabbed Viper and Lucy with her and they would have consoled her like they do to each other all the time. She can't even remember the last time she spoke to those girls.

She saw the unused door that no one took to the great outdoors and she knew that the only people who go out there are the smokers and junkies. Well they were all in class, so there was no way there would be anyone out there now, which is what she wanted. She sniffed as she opened the door and wiped away her tears. She could smell smoke and she scrunched up her nose before looking for the source of it. She found her guy.

On the black paint peeling railings, there was a teenager around her age sitting on them as he had his skateboard at his feet. He wore black skinny jeans with multiple chains that were hanging off of them and he wore an equal amount of silver links, bracelets and chains on either arm as well, as though he had something to hide. His fingers had been decorated with an assortment of skull rings as his left hand delicately held the little cigarette that was giving the place an awful smell. His white school shirt wasn't tucked into his trousers as expected, but he let it fly instead. His purple hair was a mess as though he had just rolled into school from dropping out of his bed.

Lal gulped. Not because she was scared of these sort of people. Oh please, she could eat them for breakfast if she really wanted to. She knew the back of this person anywhere. In fact, she had seen his back way too many times to be familiar with it. The way all seven of them had treated him in the past, as though he was some sort of pest. As though he was the shit on their shoe. She felt so guilty. She was also a main culprit as well which disgusted her. She was one of the big three of the group and she knew that her being here would make him want to kill her. That's if he had really gotten as dangerous as people whispered in the school hallways.

She was about to turn back around and leave without a word, or without him noticing her, but he turned his head and his purple eyes caught her own pale red ones. Her breath got caught in her throat as he stared at her. It was almost as though he couldn't recognise who she was. She didn't know whether she should be insulted or if she should be grateful for that. So far, he hadn't glared at her and told her to fuck off and go and fuck Colonnello or something along those lines. That made her feel even more guilty because he wasn't angry with her. For now.

He turned his head away from her and continued to take a huge drag of his cancer stick and blow the smoke into the air like he hadn't a care in the world. She gently shut the door behind her and decided that this could very well be a welcome out there with him. She took about three steps before his voice made her freeze.

"Just because I let you stay out here with me, doesn't mean you can come and sit here with me."

She had never heard him be so bitter before. It made her blood run cold and she questioned the past. Had they really been this hurtful to him? She thought it was just harmless fun, but by the way he was talking to her, it would seem that she was so wrong.

She couldn't even retaliate with words. She was shocked into silence and she had never felt more hurt in her life. Hadn't they been friends at one point? Heh friends. They never did treat him like one anyway, so why would he even want to be nice to her right now? He had every right to be spiteful to her. The tears were coming back again this time, but this was probably worse than her breaking up with Colonnello.

She heard him sigh and he began talking with a mocking tone. "I'm shocked at you Lal. No insults to throw at me because the 'lackey' was being rude to you? Or is it because Reborn and Colonnello aren't here to back you up? Oh, I've got it! Maybe over the past two years, you've _changed._ That you're not the same person anymore."

He didn't even bother turning to face her again. He heard her footsteps approaching him faster and faster and he was going to brace himself for huge punch that she would bestow on his face, then he would have to scare even her away from him. It never came. Instead, her arms wrapped around his torso and she buried her head into his back. He could feel her smaller frame shaking and he knew she was crying. He paused on his smoke stick and sat there, internally surprised at her actions, even if it didn't show on his face.

"Skull! I'm sorry for everything that I've done to you! Everything that I've said, every cold shoulder I've given you! I've been a bitch and I didn't even know it and I know that my sorry won't mean anything to you, but I'm saying it anyway! You know what? I broke up with Colonnello today." She let out an extremely bitter laugh, not even caring whether he was listening to her or not.

"I broke up with him and it hurt. It hurt because he was with another girl. But seeing you out here, like this, treating me the same way that I once treated you before the group finally stopped hanging out together has killed me. I don't even care about breaking up with Colonnello. Right now, seeing you is worse than all of that..."

She didn't know what else to say. She didn't know why she was suddenly pouring out her heart and emotion to Skull. It was true that when she had met him when they were young, she was intrigued by him. He was bubbly and playful. He could get severely hurt and not even care about it. She will never forget that time when they all went sledging on a hill that Verde had made for seven. Everything was going well until they hit a rock and they all went tumbling down the hill. Skull had been the only one brave to sit at the front, so he got the brunt of the hit. He had picked everyone up, making sure they were alright, passing out bandages to whoever who needed it. Verde blamed Skull for his broken sledge and ordered him to make a new one, to which he agreed.

Skull didn't come to school the next week or for the next 6 weeks in fact. Turns out he broke his ankle and needed surgery on it immediately. That had made Lal cringe at the time because she hated broken bones. Skull hadn't even cried and yet he was making sure that everyone else was okay. She didn't know why she had turned so bitter towards him. Maybe it was because when they were 13, she started having a crush on Colonnello. Well look where that got her.

She felt his warm hand on hers and she was surprised before he gently got them off of him. She stepped back and away from him, letting her arms fall to her side as he jumped down the rail. He stubbed out the cigarette on the ground and under his boots before he decided to look at Lal head on. She noticed that he had lost all his baby fat and it looked like he had purple eyeshadow. He seemed to make it work. He had an earring which was connected on a chain to the lip ring that he had. Lal would never admit this aloud, but Skull was actually _hot._

He picked up his skateboard and sighed, looked up at the sky. "Do you have any gum?" She growled before digging around in her bag for him and she threw it in his face.

"There you go! I pour out my heart to you and all you can say is if I have gum. Thanks for that." She caught her packet of gum back as he hoisted his backpack on one shoulder, holding his skateboard with one arm and chewing on the gum. He threw her a glare that got her to shut up in a heartbeat. Skull never glared.

"I didn't ask for you to pour out your shitty emotions to me. Didn't even want you to talk to me to be honest."

Her eyes widened before he passed her by. She could smell the smoke and aftershave that lingered on his clothes that made her breathe in to savour the scent. She hadn't been paying attention to it before because she was in tears.

She looked down to the ground before she heard his voice again. "But, I forgive you. I'm sorry about you and Colonnello and while I'm still quite bitter to how you treated me along with the others, I would never make a girl cry. I knew you would get mad when I asked for the gum because that's who you are. Lal Mirch doesn't cry. She fights. See you around."

She turned around in surprise, but he was already gone. She stared the door for a long time before she decided to head to her class. She didn't have any lessons with Skull at all, so the only way for her to ever see him again was to come out here.

She snapped her fingers in delight. He'll get a detention for arriving late to his lesson and she'll get a detention for arriving late to hers as well! She'll get to see him at the end of the day!

She didn't know why this was so important to her. Maybe because now she wasn't trying to please Colonnello and she didn't have to try and hide who she was from other people. It was because of her crush on him and wanting to be like him that she was rude to Skull back then. Just because Colonnello did it, she too wanted to do it. Well no more. She was going to get her friend back. In fact, she was going to get the whole group back once and for all.

~x~

Skull was a rare species that no one knew what to do with him. They didn't understand where to place him, or what type of person he was. At first, when the group 'disbanded,' everyone thought he would fit into the goths, emos, loners and stoners. They labelled him as that. But then he took the loners label too far. He didn't even want to fit in with that large group of misfits. He hung out in places they hung out all over the school, but that was when they weren't there, like stoner's corner.

Majority of the school knew of his 'chance scale' as well. This was when he gave everyone 5 chances per year. If you were extremely rude to him on 5 different occasions, he would show you why you should never mess with him. He doubted his old friends knew about this. So far, they never see him to be rude to him anymore.

All in all, people fear him. It was like he wanted nothing to do with all the humans in school. Out of school he loved everything and everyone, but once he came to this hell hole, he had no time to deal with anyone's shit.

That's why when he heard the door open and he saw it Lal, he was not at all happy. He wanted to do nothing more than hurt her verbally the same way she had done in order to gain Colonello's attention. That guy was a bastard anyway, how had he suddenly joined in with the group? Oh he knew why. Because his dad and Lal's dad had been posted in the same place oversees and seeing as they're both from the same town, Colonnello was introduced into the group.

When Skull sauntered into his lesson over half an hour late smelling of smoke, he received a detention that he didn't really care for. It was a good way for him to do his homework at school so that when he got home, he could work on the bike that his dad had bought for him to fix up by himself. Him and his dad had been working on bikes and cars together since he was 11, but now his old man thought that it would be good for him to put what he has learnt into good practice by himself.

He ignored the stupid woman talking before falling into his seat which was by the window. It was a perfect spot for him to be seared at because this way, he got to look at all the free clouds that were passing by in the sky. They looked so aloof, yet connected. He sighed before feeling someone staring at him. He knew who it was of course. His ex best friend Viper. They had once lived next door to each other before her parents split up and she went to go and live with her mum in a smaller house ten minutes away.

They had done everything together and when people said they would make a cute couple, they would gag. Yeah sure they loved each other, but as a brother and sister! Their love was extremely platonic and they looked at each other in no other way. Yet look where they are now. They don't speak anymore and Viper blamed herself, while Skull also blamed Viper. It was her fault they don't talk anymore.

Viper had gotten mixed up with a group who called themselves Varia and because the sound of money appealed to her, she joined in with their illegal activity. Skull had begged and pleaded that she would stop, but she didn't want to. She had called him so many names, said so many things, but Skull loved his 'sister' so much that he wanted to see her safe. They were only 14 for fuck sake! Why was she willing to throw it all away for Belphegor, her boyfriend at the time?

Now she was regretting it all and Skull couldn't care less. When the whole group was being hurtful, she never said anything all because she was bitter about him not accepting her joining Varia.

Skull ignored her eyes on him and decided that now would be a good time to think about Lal. He would never forget that one time when they were all 11 and 12 and the girls were having their first girls only sleepover party, the boys were confused as to why it should be girls only. In the past, they had all invited each other to whoever's turn it was to host the sleepover.

The boys were adamant to find out the difference, so they had gone to Viper's mum's place. Luckily, her house was a bungalow, so Viper's room would be on the ground floor. There would have to be no spy movie shit and climb trees to peek. One by one, they all took a go to have a five minute watch of what was going on.

Skull of course was last, but he got the best view of them all. There she was, standing in only her underwear, was Lal Mirch. Her chest was no longer flat and she wore what must have been a training bra. She must have been the first girl in their class to have boobs! Her long hair flowed down her back as he watched her put on her pyjamas. He had to calm himself down before going back to the others and faking that he saw nothing. From that day onwards, Skull knew that he would never be able to get her out of his head. She was so beautiful.

 _"I wonder how filled out she is now."_

Skull smiled to himself as the bell for the end of the lesson went off. He ignored Viper's calls to him. Well, that was new. She never tried to call out to him before. She would usually just try and stare in his direction. Oh well, he didn't care because at the time, she never cared about him. When he needed her most, she wasn't there for him.

As he walked out of class, he bumped into a couple and the girl almost fell over. Just as he was about to apologize, he heard her boyfriend yell out to him and he was none too pleased at the owner of the voice. In fact, the owner of the voice was the biggest bastard he had ever come across.

"Oi you faggot, just because you can't get a girl, doesn't mean you can knock over other people's."

Reborn.

Skull looked down at the girl and expected it to be Luce, so he was shocked to find that it was Bianchi from his art class there instead. If anything, Reborn and Luce had been dating since before Lal and Colonello had been and they were just as in love. Either reborn and Luce were over, or Reborn was cheating on her. Oh well, it wasn't his place to talk. It wasn't like he cared. But Luce was the only girl in the group to ever be nice to him while Fon we the only ever guy to be nice to him. In fact, they still hung out now, but he didn't know they were no longer dating.

Reborn helped Bianchi to her feet before looking back at Skull, as though he was trying to remember who Skull was under all that metal and makeup. He didn't even care if it was rude of him to stare openly like that, who is this guy? Bianchi then hit his arm and his attention was thrown to his girlfriend who was glaring at him.

"Don't call Skull a faggot! That's rude! Sorry for that Skull." He smiled at her and shook his head before going off so that he could buy some lunch. While he was still in earshot, he could hear what Reborn was asking Bianchi and it made him laugh.

"That's Skull? How do you even know him anyway?"

The fact that Reborn couldn't even recognise him made Skull grin.

~x~

Detention. It was one place that Lal had never been in and she was happy to avoid it. She knew that sometimes, her behaviour would have made her end up there, but she was able to dodge them all. Now she was happy that her first time having a detention would be worth it and all for it. Who knew that the reason why she would be happy to be in detention would be because she would get to see _Skull_? If you told her this yesterday, she would have laughed in your face.

She pushed open the room door and she saw heads turn to see who their latest companion would be. Some stared on in surprise while others knew that it was only a matter of time before little miss violent would get a detention too. She didn't care for them. They weren't the ones that she was looking for. Her eyes scanned the room looking for the one person that she had been waiting the whole day for.

"Hey Lal? You planning on moving anytime soon?"

She jumped before turning around to face the owner of the smooth tenor voice. It was Skull, standing there in all his skater boy glory. He looked down into her eyes and she couldn't help but wonder when he had gotten so tall. There was a time where he was the shortest of the group, but now he has shot up. He was probably the second tallest, behind Verde now.

"S-sorry." She moved to the side and hung her head down as he passed her by. His scent lingered around her nostrils once more and she couldn't help but breathe in deeply. She might have looked weird to anyone else around here, but she didn't care. She turned and saw him sit down at the seat by the window, furthest away from everyone else. She remembered when he had always wanted to be the centre of attention, he spoke of how great he would be. She remembered his stunt man dream, that he was going to be a daredevil. He had some crazy obsession over ghost rider and he wanted to be like him.

Lal smiled to herself when she thought of the way Skull used to light up when he spoke about it. Verde would just snort before poking his nose back into a physics book, Reborn would say something rude before shining his toy guns and cars while Colonello would outright laugh. Luce would chide everyone, Viper would glare at the three of them and Fon would tell Skull that he shouldn't worry. Well what was Lal doing? She couldn't even remember.

The teacher then walked in behind her. "Sit down Lal, you're going to be here for the next two hours. I hope you have some work." The girl rolled her eyes before going to look for a seat. She raised her eyebrows before pondering if she should push her luck by sitting next to him. Actually, why is she asking that? She's Lal Mirch and she'll do what she wants!

She made her way around the tables and through the other people as she made her way to the same table to Skull was at. She dumped her bag on the table, but that didn't even make him look up. It was like he knew she was coming.

"You took your time."

She sat in the seat next to him and smiled a little bit. "So you knew I was coming to sit next to you?"

He turned his head away from the window and she didn't realise how captivating his violet eyes were. He smirked at her and she could feel her heart soaring in her chest. How was it that he was able to make her feel like this when she hadn't even spoken to him in over 2 years? In fact, why did Skull even make her feel like this? It hasn't even been a day since she broke up with Colonello, yet her heart was fluttering like this. How crazy.

"Well of course I did. I'm pretty sure that you weren't just going to leave it there when you saw me smoking, were you? I know you Lal, even if we haven't been friends for a long time now." He sat back in his seat and watched her. He saw the blush rise up on her face and she turned away from him.

"So anyway, what do you want? How are the others these days?"

Lal frowned. Either he was just joking about or he really didn't know that the whole group had split up. He was the first to leave the group after all. It was funny because everyone thought it would have been Verde to leave first. Well he was the second anyway.

"We don't hang out anymore Skull. The group has...gone their own separate ways. Ever since you left...things just weren't the same anymore. Verde started hanging out with the smart people because he felt that we were too stupid for him. I'll show him stupid, I'm a straight A student as well." She stopped when she saw the amused look that Skull was giving her and she felt her cheeks start to glow.

"ANYWAY! Viper started hanging out with Varia, though I think as soon as her and Belphegor broke up, she stopped hanging out with them. Luce and Reborn broke up and now Reborn is with Bianchi. I don't know what Luce is doing now. Now you know that me and Colonello are over as well. Anyway, enough about them, what about you?"

Skull raised an eyebrow at her in question. He didn't really think that she would bother asking him anything to do with him. He looked into her eyes and saw that she was being dead serious. Her eyes were trained on him as though she was going to listen intently.

"Wait, you want to know about what I've been doing? Me? Skull?"

Lal actually laughed before she stopped because the teacher glared at her and the other students were staring at her as well. She glared back at them all which made them turn around before she looked up at Skull again with a smile.

"Yes, you maggot! Come on. Tell me. How is your whole stunt man thing coming along? Or are you trying to be the next Tony Hawk?" She put her foot on his skateboard and moved it back and forth with her foot while still looking at him. He gave her a sarcastic smile before shrugging his shoulders.

"It's coming along great. I've been entering stuff like dirt bike competitions, skateboarding competitions and bmx ones too. You know, extreme sports. I might be getting an amazing sponsor if I'm able to win the finals that are coming up next month." He paused when he saw that she was actually listening to him.

"But why do you even care? Why all of a sudden? You just want a friend to comfort you because of Colonnello? Is that it? Because the others aren't around anymore? Tell me." His eyes turned cold as the words were knocked right out of her. She had never seen this side of Skull before and it was shocking to say that she didn't know whether to be scared, cry, shout back at him or be turned on.

"Skull...Oh Skull," she whispered gently. Before she could even think of what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around him yet again. She didn't know what was wrong with her today. She was never one for hugs, yet here she was, hugging Skull TWICE today! She is really losing it. Or maybe this was all a dream.

Skull suddenly felt warm again. Like he had been touched by an angel. It had been two years since he stopped caring about anyone in this school. Since he stopped caring for a lot of things. But here he was, in the arms of his crush and he never felt better. His arms wrapped around her waist and he squeezed them before they pulled apart.

"I care because I'm sorry. Everything that we did to you...I'm sorry. You know what? I want to come to your finals next month. Do I need a ticket? How much is it? I want to see you doing what you love because in the past, I never really got to."

He watched as her eyes sparkled and he had never felt more loved by any of his friends in a long time. "You want to come to my finals?"

"Yes."

"Lal, what's up with you? You got girlier."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean I still can't knock you out you know."

"There's the Lal I know, but I would like to see you try. I got strong too you know. I'm not weak anymore, Lal." She didn't know what it was, but the way he said her name made her feel weak and she was never happier that she was sitting down instead of standing up. He was making her blood rush and pound in her ears.

"If that's what you think then. Anyway, shut up, I have homework to get on with." She heard Skull chuckle at her behaviour and she couldn't help but smile. Skull was slowly warming up to her and she was definitely warming up to him as well.

~x~

"Hey Luce, what's up?"

The said teen looked up at the boy who called her and she smiled up at him before he took his seat next to her. He passed her a box of chocolates which she was grateful for. She had been craving them all day and now she finally got what she wanted. She savoured the wonderful milky taste of the chocolate as she swirled it in her mouth with her tongue, smiling with glee as she ate it.

"So when are you going to let anyone know? I mean, as much as I like being the only one to know, you need to tell _him,_ not me. Oh yeah, thanks for telling me that you and Reborn are over."

Luce waved him off with a huff as well as looking sheepish. "Sorry, I kind of forgot."

He sighed with a small smile on his face. If there was a childish human, Luce won it right off the bat. She gave babies a run for her money. She was so sweet, so innocent, so how was it that she was tainted by something so...bad? It baffled him.

"I don't know. I don't want to tell him. What will he say to me? Do you know what he will say? I know he barely loves me. He just wants to make Bianchi jealous. He doesn't really love me."

"Has he told you that he doesn't love you? Wait, if this is how you feel, why are you even dating him?"

"Well, no because he doesn't have to. At the time, I was using him to get over Reborn and now I've fallen for him."

"But that's not proof enough." Once again, Luce huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and she shut her eyes in frustration.

"Skull," she said, starting to get annoyed. "I don't need him to tell me that he doesn't love me as proof. I can see it in his actions okay? He. Doesn't. Love. Me." She stuck another block of the expensive chocolate in her mouth and she melted once more while Skull rolled his eyes next to her.

"I think that you should still tell him."

"And I think that you should mind your own business. Shouldn't you be practising for the finals next month? Why are you bothering a pregnant teen?" She plopped another cube in her mouth as she watched Skull ruffle his hair. There was suddenly a smile on his face and she couldn't help but smirk as well as be curious. It was rare to get a smile out of him. It became rare as of 2 years ago.

"Okay, so what's got you smiling like that."

"Not a what, more like a who."

Luce blinked in confusion, but not confused enough to not carry on eating. She tried to think of any people that Skull might have a soft spot for in the school, other than herself of course. She had never let go of her friendship for Skull as she was the only one all those two years ago to try to get him to come back and hang out with them again. It may have failed, but they remained friends. Best friends even because Viper had decided to be a bitch.

"Oh my gosh! Lal spoke to you!"

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!"

"Tell me, EVERYTHING!"

Skull laughed as he looked over to where there were other children playing on the swing sets and all the other things that they have in a park. He looked at the light setting sun and knew that they would all be going home soon. He had promised that he would meet Luce out here to talk to her after his detention. It was their thing. If one needed to talk to the other, they headed to the park. It reminded them of the good old days, before things went wrong 2 years ago.

"Well as you know, I like to go for a smoke in our 3rd period-"

"Yes and I wish you would stop."

"And I wish you would stop interrupting the story." She said a quick story and let him continue. "Anyway, I heard the door open and when I looked back, there was Lal standing behind me, all teary eyed and shocked. I ignored her of course, I didn't know what the fuck she wanted. She wanted to come near me, but I shunned her. Then she hugged me- DON'T SAY ANYTHING!" He noticed the way that Luce looked like she was going to burst from happiness when she heard that they hugged.

"She started apologizing and shit and I told her that I forgive her. Then I saw her again in detention and we had a better conversation. She wants to come and see me at the finals next month. Oh and her and Colonnello broke up. Can't say I'm not happy."

"Finally, you're going to get the girl! You have to ask her out soon enough before another guy comes and snatches her away from you! She might be violent, but she has a ton of guys waiting for her."

"Nah, I don't think that I will you know?"

Luce's eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard him say that. Was he crazy?! This was a girl that he had been in love with since they were 11. She was the only who knew because she was the only girl who had seen the guys watch the girls. She hadn't told the other two that the boys were watching of course, she wanted to see what would happen. So when Lal had stripped down to her underwear when Skull just happened to be watching, she couldn't help but squeal in her mind for the unsuspecting Lal.

"And why the hell not?! You've been in love with her for ages!"

"I'll only ask her out if you tell your baby daddy that he's going to be a baby daddy."

Luce went silent and glared. She really wanted Skull to be happy and get the girl of his dreams, but she didn't want to tell her current boyfriend that he was going to be a father! The words that he will yell at her, telling her she should have taken the pill and all that would just scare her. She well and truly did actually love him, even though at first, she was dating him just because she wanted Reborn to be jealous. Now look where that got her. She fell in love with the guy.

She thought about it. If she told him, she could just tell him that it was okay and that she knows that he wouldn't have to pitch in or even know the baby if he really didn't want to. She could raise the baby on her own, no big deal. She wouldn't care if he left her for someone else or screamed curses at her. She was going to raise her baby with love and that was all that mattered. It wasn't her baby's fault, it was hers. She should have been more careful.

She sighed before eating the last chocolate. She saw Skull smile. She knew that he knew that she had given in. "Fine, I'll tell him. But you have to be at the scene. I'll tell him in private obviously, but you have to be around a corner or something. Then when you finally get the balls to ask out Lal, I'll be around to give you support. Deal?"

Skull gave her a one arm hug and grinned at her. "Deal for sure. How did your mum take it anyway?" Skull knew that Sepira, Luce's mum was probably the most laid back parent on Earth, though she was strict on a few things. He was pretty sure that teenage pregnancy was something that was serious.

"Oh you know, she cried. She said all the typical things that a parent would say. She then called my dad on the phone and he spoke to me saying that I should have waited and if this guy even loves me. I said yes of course. I know dad will want to meet him when he gets back from his trip. Oh well, both mum and dad said that it's done now and that I'm not aborting."

Skull nodded, happy that they weren't angry. "Yeah, that's what I would say as well. Anyway, I better go and you better go too. In fact, let me walk you home, it's getting darker now." They both stood up as they headed into the direction of Luce's house.

The streetlights came on as they were walking in silence. "Skull? When did we start to fall apart?"

The said boy was silent for a while before breathing heavily through his nose. They had been the best of friends, all seven of them. Then Colonnello came and it was the eight of them. It was probably the pressure of school and the cliques being formed with hormone activity on top of it as well.

"I want the group to get back together. This is our last year, we can't just leave it all like this. There must be a way to get back together."

"I don't know Lu. I mean, I know I should let bygones be bygones, but sometimes it's hard, especially when I endured with all their shit for 3 years before I finally decided I'd had enough of it all. Viper, I know wants to talk to me, but she hasn't got the guts to come up to me properly and say anything to my face. Lal has already found her way to me. Reborn doesn't remember me-"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I bumped into Bianchi today and he called me a fag. Bianchi hit him for being rude and said hi to me, before saying my name. When I was walking away, Reborn asked her if it was really. The guy has been so wrapped up in his world of being 'cool' that he's forgotten what one of his old good friends used to look like. It's not like we haven't hung out in 20 years as well, so he has no excuse. He is the person I want nothing to do with. I haven't seen Colonnello or Verde in a while either, so I don't know what my status is on those two."

He kicked an empty can that was lying on the ground as he watched it drop by a gutter and Luce just sighed. She was the peacemaker of the whole group, literally like the mother. Skull knew that she would make a good parent because she was so motherly.

They both walked in silence once more, taking in the air and the night. They stopped outside of her house and she smiled at him. "Thanks for walking me home. And for still being friends as well." She waved at him as he watched her walk into her house before he turned around and started for his own. He smiled. Today had gone pretty well. He set his skateboard on the ground before pushing himself off on it into the night.

* * *

So how was that? Did you all like that? In fact, did you all understand where I was coming from? So basically, they've all been friends since they were kids, you know, the ORIGINAL acrobaleno, but Colonnello became friends let's say around when they were like ten. Because there's only technically supposed to be seven of them, the story name is 'flee in SEVEN different directions' because they all split up. GEDDIT?!

Good, so I hope that was a good enough start for you all! Because I'm in my first year of university, my updating will be very inconsistent, so please bear with me okay!

Please don't forget to rate of hate, flames or floods! Reviews are really great and I'll love you for it!

Lolita-chan


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Dark Gothic Lolita here!

So how is everyone since the last chapter? I hope you're all doing well! As promised, I have now brought out the second chapter and it's nice to know that at least a few people are enjoying this. Thank you for the support even if it is minimal! It's still support!

Do you really think I own KHR?!

ENJOY!

* * *

 **Flee in 7 different directions**

 **Chapter two**

Lal was walking into the school and past the gates when she felt a gust of wind rush right past her. She gasped and she was staring at the back of the boy who had recently come back into her life. There Skull was, speeding on his bmx as she watched him ride expertly on the bike and skid right into the bike park, so that he could lock up his bike for the next school day ahead of them. She couldn't help the smile that was dancing on her lips as she started heading in his direction. That was until she saw him and he saw her.

Colonnello's blue eyes were staring right into hers and she couldn't help but glare at him angrily. " _What is that maggot staring at? He should just leave me alone."_ Just as it looked like he was going to start walking towards her, the girl who she had seen with Colonnello jumped onto his back, taking away his concentration. Lal couldn't help but smirk before she practically skipped towards Skull.

"Skull!"

The teen looked up when he heard his name being called and it actually did surprise him when he saw Lal running towards him, hand in the air as she was waving. He couldn't help but let his eyes wander over her form. The school uniform was so perverted when it came the females, but hey, he wasn't complaining. Her gray pleated skirt was short and he couldn't help but get a good look at her long and toned legs. His eyes travelled upwards and he was staring at her generous chest that definitely hadn't stopped growing since the first and last time he had seen them.

She stopped in front of him, not even a bit out of breath and he grinned. That grin always got to her and she will never know why. There was just something about it that made it seem real, more playful. She was getting the Skull that she knew back and she was going to make sure that this Skull stuck around for a long time.

"I see that all that beast mode training hasn't been lost on you." They turned as they started making their way into the school and Lal smirked once again.

"Of course not. You know me, I'm going to be in the COMSUBIN one day, and don't you forget that." She stuck up her arm to flex and show Skull that she has good muscles for a girl. Skull made gunshot noises in order to mock her and she punched his arm in the process, but not without being shocked.

"Wait, did I feel muscles from the one and only weedy and wiry Skull?" The last time anyone had checked, save for Luce of course, Skull was the smallest and unfortunately the weakest in the group. He was this wiry kid who looked like he was lacking the proper nutrients in his diet, but if you saw how his mother cooked, you would be wondering how he was able to stay skinny. In fact, at one point, Luce, Lal and Viper had been scared that maybe he was bulimic or something. They were extremely worried for him, but they never saw him throw up.

"You didn't think that I was going to remain that way forever did you?" He then raised up his sleeve a little bit and flexed in front of the gobsmacked girl. She couldn't believe it! His muscles are more defined than Colonnello's! She couldn't help but blush when she realised that those were the same arms that Skull had wrapped around her yesterday when she had decided to hug him. She wanted to be in those strong arms yet again.

"W-what happened to you?!"

"Puberty happened. And a gym membership of course." He smiled at her as they got into the school building. He then shrugged his shoulders and Lal suddenly wanted to know more about what he was packing, but she got that thought out of her head. How fickle could she be, she just got out of a relationship! Why was she suddenly lusting after an old friend that she had hurt both physically and emotionally in the past?

They started talking about anything and everything before the bell above their heads went off, signalling that they had to get to their forms (homeroom) and then start their school day from there. Lal actually sighed in annoyance before looking up into Skull's eyes as he watched her. It actually made her upset that she had no lessons with Skull and that the only way that she would get to see him was at breaktimes and lunchtimes.

"I guess we won't see each other until break. That's if you want to." Lal didn't want to push her luck. Maybe he didn't really want to hang out with her?

"Of course I want to. Don't worry, we won't be alone, if that's what you're scared of." Lal's cheeks were on fire as she wanted to hit him round the head for saying such a thing, but she crossed her arms over her chest instead and she looked away from him. How could he insinuate such a thing?! Actually, when did Skull get so flirty?

"Do you actually think that I'll be scared of those people that you hang out with? Oh please Skull, those maggots will shit themselves when they see me coming out there."

Skull gave her an extremely amused look as he shook his head at her, laughing. He didn't even care if he was going to be late to form, this was just too funny! "Well I should hope that you're not scared of Luce. She can't say boo to a goose!"

Lal gasped when she heard the name. "Oh my God, now WAY do you still talk to Luce! Why is it that when I was talking yesterday, you didn't say anything about her?" Lal glared at him. Luce was definitely a person that she would want to be friends with again. She, along with Fon were the only ones in the group with a heart of gold.

"One, you don't like being interrupted so I couldn't just butt in could I? Two, you never really asked. You just assumed that I don't talk to any of you anymore, but that's okay."

Lal could barely contain her excitement as she thought about seeing Luce once again. Hopefully, the girl hadn't changed for the worst and was now rude as hell or something. She wouldn't want to have to smack her.

"Anyway, I better go to my form now otherwise I'll be late. See you around." He waved and turned away to head down to his form and Lal couldn't help but bite her bottom lip as she watched him walk away like he owned the place, with confidence! A confidence that he never had when he hung out with the group. She noticed people backing away from him and some girls giving his sultry glances, but he didn't seem to notice them.

That made Lal's blood boil. Who did they think they were, staring at him with hearts in their eyes? She then gasped once more to herself as she made her way into the classroom and sat down in her seat. Did she just really think that? What the hell is wrong with her, acting like she's jealous? She took a few deep breaths before taking her mind off of the subject.

But it wasn't that easy.

Her first two periods were hell. In Italian, she wasn't concentrating in the slightest bit, which resulted in the teacher throwing a pen at her face which made her jump and blush at being caught. She looked down and let her hair curtain over her face so that no one would see what she's going through. _"Maybe PE will be better."_

Yeah right. It was dodgeball in PE and Lal would have jumped up and down in joy, making the others around her pale in horror. She had a mean throw and she could dodge every ball that came her way. She was a one woman powerhouse and the only person who could ever stop her if she let them was Colonnello.

But Lal didn't do these usual things. She just stood off to the side by herself, still deep in thought. People obviously hadn't known that her dating status had now turned single, but they did look at Colonnello, wondering why he wasn't with her like he was every PE lesson. Maybe they were fighting?

Well, whatever it was wasn't good because when they started playing, Lal was one of the first people to get hit out. Right in her face was where the ball landed and everyone watched her reaction, holding their breaths. Lal held her face in pain, but also not really thinking about the pain at the same time. She looked around to the faces of the other team and she saw Colonnello's face looking the most shocked. Clearly it was him that threw the ball.

Lal didn't say or do anything, other than to walk over to the bench where people who were already out were sitting at. Her mind wasn't with the game and she blamed Skull for that.

~x~

She didn't really know where to find or look for Skull. He never hung out where she found him the day before when there were loads of people, only if he was by himself. She sighed in annoyance before she spotted Luce walking down the hall.

"Luce!"

The girl turned around and smiled in utter happiness when she saw Lal calling her. Lal couldn't help but feel just as happy when she saw the smile Luce was giving her. Clearly she still saw the friend in her. They both ran towards each other and they hugged like the usually would.

"Lal! How have you been, it's been a long time, right?"

"It's been too long and it's only now I've noticed how much of a bitch I've become. I'm sorry, do you forgive me?"

"Of course I can! Anyway, is there something I help you with?"

"Yeah, where do you and Skull hang out? I'm thinking of trying to get the group back together for our last year of school. I hate the way that we all just broke off like that."

Luce gave her another friendly smile as she hugged her once more. "I said the same thing to Skull last night believe it or not. I guess that if we do it together, we can get the group back, only I'm not asking Reborn."

"And I won't be asking Colonnello. I'm guessing Skull already told you what happened."

Luce nodded as she led Lal down to where she usually hangs out with Skull. They walked out of the door where the school junkies all hang out, but they walked past them all onto the field, where many people were playing football (soccer). Lal was quite surprised that they would even hang out in the open seeing as she had never actually seen them around the place. Luce led her to the back of the field where there was just a huge tree and they were shaded from basically all of the light.

"Hey Skull."

Luce flung herself on the floor as she brought out a sandwich to eat and Skull was sat on one of the branches. He blew some smoke into the air and Lal didn't even wrinkle her nose. Usually, she would have hated such an act, would have pulled him down from the tree and then given him a lecture on how bad it is for him to smoke, but it suited him somehow. He looked hot and she had never seen him smoke a lot a day anyway.

"I see that someone missed me." He stared right down at her and she humphed, crossing her arms and shaking her head, though she was trying to win the biggest fight of her life against her own body as she knew that she was about to blush. He had been on her mind for the past two hours and she still had a red mark on her face from where she had been hit. That was when she heard on a thud on the ground in front of her and she saw Skull walking towards her, a serious expression marring his face. She frowned.

"Is there anything wrong? Why are you looking at me like that, maggot." She wanted to move back and away from him, but that would show weakness, or that she was afraid of him and she was neither. She stood her ground and waited for him to reach her so that she could see what was wrong. She could see Luce smiling, but she wasn't even looking at them. Was Skull about to play some sort of prank on her because she swore that if he was going to-

"What happened?"

Lal almost fainted from the contact as Skull's hand gently caressed her cheek, a gesture that Colonnello himself hadn't done in over three months. It was one contact that Lal couldn't get enough of and it made her whole entire body relaxed until she was slumped against that person. Right now, it took a lot of out of her to ignore that feeling and try to stand strong, but she was a sucker for soft touches, and here was Skull, giving her soft touches.

"Oh erm, you know. I er, got hit. By a ball in dodgeball." His thumb rubbed over her skin like it was a delicate piece of treasure and she had to suck back a gasp that was trying to escape from her throat. She willed herself to keep her eyes on Skull's.

"Since when did Lal Mirch ever get hit by a dodgeball? Who was the idiot who had the guts to do so anyway?"

"Colonnello."

There was silence between the three of them as all they could hear were the shouts of young adults playing football in the field about 100 metres away from them. Lal noticed that Skull's eyes had hardened and even Luce had stopped eating her sandwich as they were looking at how bad the mark actually was. It wasn't really pretty and would probably bruise by the morning.

"Do you want me to beat him up for you? Or do you want me to to stand by and watch for when you do?"

Lal blinked, not truly knowing how to respond. Colonnello never offered to beat any guy up for her because he automatically assumed that she would just do it. While yes, she was an extremely strong female who struck fear into the hearts of many boys at the school, it was still nice to offer to hurt someone because they hurt her. After all, she was his girlfriend.

"That's...really nice of you, but don't worry. We can get him back another time, not now. I just want to hang out with you guys." Luce stood up and stuffed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth. She grinned at the both of them before gulping the food down and hugging them both.

"Aww I missed this you guys!" Soon enough, her phone started ringing and when she looked at the caller id, she paled a little bit and Skull gave her a hard look. She tried to avoid looking at him, but her eyes kept on find his every time she looked away. Lal raised an eyebrow as she was curious to know who it was that was calling Luce that was making the usually cheerful girl as scared as anything.

"Who is it? Why are you guys like that all of a sudden?"

Lal knew that Luce would tell her. She would give in and cave straight away because once you were an extremely close friend with Luce, she told you everything. There were no such things as secrets when it came to friendship and Luce. Even if they had been separated for 10 years, Luce would still tell Lal everything because that's the sort of person she was. Luce sighed and Lal braced herself for the news.

"My boyfriend is calling me."

Lal was mildly surprised when she heard that. This was a girl who had loved Reborn with all her soul and being that you would think she would wait for Reborn to see the error in his ways and wait for him to come back to her. She would go to the moon and back for him, as well as sell her own soul just to save his life. She was that in love with the bastard. So for Luce to say that she was actually able to move on and get herself a new beau actually knocked the words right out of Lal. But that just made new questions. Who was Luce's boyfriend that she was scared like this?

"Luce," Lal started off slowly. The other two looked at her, wondering what she might say. "Are you sure you're in love with this guy? I mean if you're scared of him like this, then I don't think this relationship of yours is healthy. I know that you might not tell me who he is, but I want you to be careful and tell me _everything_ that he does to you. If he ever raises a hand to you, tell me and I'll finish him for you."

Luce was so close to tears when she heard those words and Lal offered the girl a hug. "Thank you so much Lal, I knew that I could count on you." They both laughed when Skull called out 'hey' from behind them. "But yes, I really do love him, more than I can tell you. There's...just something about him. Anyway, I better go before break ends. See ya!"

They watched her run off as she went to go and look for this person. Lal looked at Skull for some clues and he just shrugged before sitting at the foot of the tree where Lal joined him. "You know Lal, always into the bad boys. She can't help it and we can't help her."

Lal snorted. "Some things never change. It's like she feels like she can change them. When is she going to learn that you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Oh well, at least her heart is in the right place. Do I get to know who this person is?"

Skull turned his head to look at his crush and he wondered if he should tell her or not. Was it really his place to tell? Actually, it's just telling her who her boyfriend is, not that she was pregnant. Also, it's not like she was hiding their relationship, or that he was hiding it either, it's just that no one actually noticed that they were together because they felt like PDA was too awkward for them. Skull took a deep breath and reminded himself that Luce will tell her anyway.

"It's..."

~x~

"Xanxus."

The said boy opened his eyes lazily as he saw his girlfriend standing there. She was smiling at him and he couldn't help smile back at her as well. His 'friends' weren't there so this is where he could truly be the person that he wanted to be. He grabbed her down and she landed on top of him, her skirt riding up so high. He grinned at this.

"Luce." The way he said her name made her go crazy and you wouldn't think that innocent little Luce was one for sexual pleasure. It was funny because while Reborn was quite the horn dog himself, he never thought that Luce was and therefore never touched her. However, when she found Xanxus, she quickly found that he satisfied her in more ways than one and she enjoyed that a lot. While she wasn't a whore because she lost her first time to Xanxus, she sure as hell knew that she could have sex like one.

Xanxus himself had enjoyed bringing out this side of the girl. He hated sharing his women and he only ever went for virgins. There was just something about Luce that made him stay with her. Something extremely special and he was yet to find out what it was. He kissed her roughly on her mouth and she reciprocated, though she knew well enough that she had to let him have full control. Then she pushed him away and stood up quickly, breathing heavily. Xanxus raised an eyebrow in question. Luce had never pushed him away, _never._

"I can't go on anymore, I can't hide this any longer." Xanxus was literally about to see red. She wasn't seeing someone else was she? "I know that once I tell you this, you're going to hate me, won't want to see me or talk to me anymore. I know that you won't believe me and you might even end up calling me a liar, but I can't hide this from you anymore."

By this time she was crying and she wouldn't let Xanxus touch her. She tried to wipe at her tears, but there was just more and more coming and she couldn't help but let it overwhelm her in the end. Her navy eyes stared into his red ones and he genuinely looked worried. This wasn't about her cheating or anything, this was serious. He loved this girl and he was going to keep her out of any harm.

"Xanxus, I'm pregnant."

* * *

Skull didn't see Luce at lunchtime, so it was just him and Lal that hung out together. Lal was sharing her grapes with him as they started trying to throw the grapes up into the air and catch them with their mouths. Skull caught every single one while Lal dropped every single one. He laughed out loud, his mouth wide open, his eyes shut and his head thrown back. Lal loved to see him like this. It was a complete 180 from how he acted when they used to treat him like shit. Seeing him like this was so refreshing, but it still made her feel terrible that he could have been like this, but because of douchebags like her, they had him feeling like he was worthless and nothing to the group.

She laid her head down on his shoulder and he looked down at her. He was about to shake her off, but he decided against it. "I'm still shocked that Luce is dating Xanxus! That is...something that I never really thought of in a million years. But then again, I never really thought that her and Reborn would break up."

"It's kind of like you and Colonnello though. Do people even know that you guys have broken up because if they did, you'll be the talk of the school. It will be a shock to everyone."

Lal groaned, lifting her head up. "Ugh. Please, let's not talk about that. That stupid maggot, I don't even want to remember him. Anyway, what about you? Dated any girls, any special girl that you've got your eyes on?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him, though deep down inside, she knew that if he said yes, she would get so jealous that it wouldn't even be funny. Skull wanted to do nothing more than sigh and proclaim his love to her there and then, but she just got out of a break up and he wasn't about to be rejected anyhow, because how could she love him back.

"There's this one girl, but she would never look at me in that way, y'know? Anyway, let's get of of this topic can we please. It's making my head hurt."Skill skillfully dodged the talk based on love and feelings. He had tried to lock his away for so long, but with Lal coming to find him now for friendship again, it was all starting to come back to him, even if he didn't want it to.

"Okay then, I'll drop it until another day. So where do you think Luce is?"

"Isn't it obvious, she's probably with Xanxus. There are sometimes where she does this so I just take a nap out here by myself. You know, get refreshed for our last two lessons of the day." Lal smiled when he said that and she could just imagine how cute he would look, lying there in all his peace and tranquil.

"Aww, you'll get a girl who will love you for who you are one day. Anyway, how's your family? I should stop by some time."

Skull's face went blank as he portrayed no emotion. "Yeah, they're doing just fine you know. How about yours?"

Lal went on about how her dad was able to get six months off to spend her with her and her younger brother, Basil. How happy their mother was that he was going to get to spend so much time with them. Throughout the time she was talking, Skull paid close attention, listening to her every word, getting happy when she was happy. It was good to see her smile.

Before long, the bell went off, signalling that they had a final two lessons before the end of the day. Lal stood up and brushed off the dirt from her legs and skirt. She looked at Skull who was just getting up as well. She watched him stretch, and when his shirt went up with his arms, she couldn't help but look down and notice that he had one hell of a V line. She blushed before looking away from him and hoisting her bag onto her back.

"I don't know why you won't tell me what's going on with your family, but I won't push you. Let's get going, maggot." She started walking away from him and he stared at the back of her head, knowing that she would have caught on eventually. Lal wasn't a stupid person. She could read body language from far away and Skull had been too careless by letting his face go blank so quickly like that. Oh well, he's gone and shot himself in his own foot now.

 **Meanwhile**

"Why do you need my help to start talking to him? It's not like we were each other's favourites."

Viper edged towards Verde who stepped back smartly. Viper was not a force to be reckoned with when she was angry. Her hood hid her eyes and it was said that no one but her family got to see her eyes, not even Skull. It had always fascinated Verde and he wanted to see them. So he smirked.

"But why do you need my help?"

"You're smart, you could probably get me back into his good books!"

"Okay, I'll tell you, under one condition."

Viper approached him with desperation in her eyes as she was practically begging him. She held onto his arm which made him hold his breath. She was so close to him and she was in his space. Her perfume wrapped itself around his nose and he could feel something go stiff. Oh how he loved her.

"What, do you have a crush on him or something."

He was pretty sure that if he could see her eyes, she would be giving him one hell of a sour look. He knew damn well that she didn't have a crush on him and that they saw each other like brother and sister. Verde visibly flinched and straightened himself out.

"Just get on with the damn condition Verde," she spat out.

" _Ouch. At this rate, she'll never like me back."_

"I want to take back every bad thing I said about him. I was horrible, just like you were. Don't you want to apologize and take everything back. After all, him leaving the group was actually the reason that you left as well, hm?"

He rolled his eyes. Yes, it was true. Without Skull there, his life with the group just became dull and useless. There were the three main violent ones who were constantly smirking and making useless arguments that while they thought was smart, he saw them as completely stupid and unnecessary. They were too noisy. Then there were the other four of them. The quiet ones who rolled their eyes, and tried to stop them from killing each other. When Skull was there, he was their target. That's what made things more enjoyable because he proved every hypothesis of his wrong.

Skull wasn't as stupid as they thought, in fact, he was very bright. He wasn't as immature as they thought, he could actually hold intelligent arguments that even Verde would want to join in with. It was usually the only time he spoke. When Colonnello and Reborn tried to argue with Skull, Verde found himself rooting for him.

"Okay, so yes, it's true. It's been 2 years and now you want to talk to him? The group is over, dead and buried. Even Reborn and Luce have broken up and I feel like it's just a matter of time before Colonnello and Lal do."

"Nah, they're already over, I heard Skull talking about it. Anyway, you still haven't told me about this condition of yours. Get on with it."

Verde breathed it. It was now or never. "If you want me to help you with Skull, you have to show me your eyes."

Viper couldn't help but be surprised. Her eyes? Why in the hell would he want to see her eyes so badly? It was just a pair of eyes. Yeah, sure she had never showed anyone the two orbs on her face, but it wasn't really on purpose. Okay, who is she kidding, of course it was on purpose. Ever since she was a kid, she hated her eyes. They were weird and they made her feel alienated. She got them from her father's side, but that didn't mean that her father had the same eyes. Her mother had normal eyes and so did her father. She just wanted to look normal and fit in. So she hid her eyes and showed no one, not even Skull.

"Okay, it's not worth it, I'll just go and find Colonnello to help me."

Verde growled. He knew that Viper had been crushing on Colonnello probably since before Lal had been doing the same, which made him angry that she would drag his name into their conversation, even if she didn't know that Verde himself had a crush on her. But he really wanted to see her eyes! Why didn't she want to show him her eyes?

"Yeah, sure. Go and ask the guy who has just broken up with his girlfriend to try and talk to the guy who is practically hanging out with his girlfriend not even 24 hours later. Besides, why would Colonnello help you talk to a guy he hates? You know what, forget it. Bye." Verde tried to walk back to his physics group friends before Viper jumped in his way once more.

"Okay, okay! You get to see my eyes! I don't know why though." She whispered the last part to herself and Verde mentally cheered.

"Okay, here's what you do. Stop staring at him from a distance and head down to the tree at the end of the field and say, 'hey Skull, can we talk? I'm really sorry for two years ago and Belphegor was the douche you always said he was!' There, was that simple enough for you? Now lemme see those eyes of yours!"

He walked forward and Viper stepped back, angry and embarrassed.

"Hold on, my SNAKE could have told me that you idiot! What kind of advice was that?!"

Verde sighed through his nose and took off his glasses so that he could clean the lenses. He knew that she would react like this, because he knew her so damn well. "Well it's the advice that you needed to hear, but just didn't want to accept, am I right? Well of course I'm right, I'm not stupid. Either way, we just made a deal and seeing as I kept my end half of it, you should keep yours too."

He slid his glasses back on and gave her a lazy look to which she shook her head at. "Nope, it's not worth it. I'm going now, enjoy the rest of your lunch." Just like that, she was gone and Verde stood there, surprised that she had actually left him like that. He smiled bitterly to himself. What was he actually thinking, that Viper would show him her eyes and suddenly fall in love with him? Nah, she was above that and it pissed him off that she just kept coming to him for advice, was crushing on a blond bimbo like Colonnello and wanted to talk to her 'brother' that she had regarded as trash two years ago. When would it be his go?

He sighed and started walking back to his physics buddies. There talk on physics wouldn't even cheer him up today because Viper had just gone and rained on his parade. " _Maybe it's time to let her go Verde. She doesn't love you and she never will."_ He sighed. He really did like her. She only spoke when she needed to and she had more authority than Lal. Sure, Luce was the same but he was the only one who knew of her horny ways. He doubted that Skull knew a thing about it too.

"Get rejected again?"

He looked up to see his own ex best friend sat on a windowsill in the hallways. Fon had his arms crossed over his chest as he didn't even glance at him, but rather, he found that the outside world of all the other school kids playing on the field was more wonderful and exciting. Fon and Verde had been the duo. Verde was the brains and Fon was the brawn, though that didn't regard him as stupid. He was the wise and philosophical guy who gave the right kind of encouragement. He was the only one who was able to keep a conversation that wasn't argument related with the boy genius.

Unfortunately, Verde had suddenly gotten this ego boost that he was too smart for people who didn't indulge in the world of science, and that included cutting Fon out of his life. The boy hadn't given up trying to win his friend back, but that didn't mean that Verde was going to crack any time soon. Even after probably 6 months, Fon had to give up and see that his best friend wanted nothing to do with him as well.

Verde leaned against the wall where Fon was and didn't blame the Chinese boy for not wanting to turn his head and look at him. He had done what Viper did to Skull and he had totally trashed him. He felt bad, but he didn't know how to say sorry to him. They stood and sat there in silence as Fon kept on staring outside. He heard Verde sigh.

"Two years sure does go by quickly."

Fon kept silent and this time, he kept his eyes shut. There was more silence between the two of them.

"So Luce wants to get the group back together huh?" Verde was trying to make conversation, but for once, Fon wasn't having it. Verde could now see how it felt for Fon when he had tried to get his friend back for six good months. He must have felt like an idiot when he finally stopped trying.

"Over two years and you're still in love with Viper."

Verde pouted, but he felt extremely happy when he finally got a response. At least Fon still had the same forgiving heart that he always had. "Hey, Skull has been in love with Lal longer than I have been in love with Viper." He watched as Fon slipped off from where he was perched and he smacked his arm, giving him a grin before shoving his hands into his pocket.

"Yep, sure, hide behind Skull why don'tcha? Not the first time right?"

Verde growled as Fon laughed. It had been a long time since the two of them ever got to hang out like this, but then again, they could say the same thing about the whole group. "So you, you still do whatever form of fighting you do? And how's the crazy guy, Lussuria?" Fon shivered at the mention of his name and rolled his eyes. Fon doesn't hate anyone and he especially doesn't knock people down for their sexuality, but Lussuria is a fangirl and there's nothing worse than having a fangirl cling to you constantly, telling you how much your body is perfect for them and that they want to fuck your brains out.

"Please...please don't mention that name around me. Oregano thinks it's hilarious, but when she saw it first hand one day, she sent the poor guy flying. I mean, he doesn't do it as much anymore, but maybe once in two weeks, he tries to proclaim his love for me." Fon saw Verde's confused face when he mentioned Oregano. "Oh yeah, Oregano and I have been dating for a year and 5 months." Verde nodded his head, happy that his friend got the girl.

"So what's this I hear about Luce trying to get the group back together? Me? I'm up for it, I miss our little group of misfits. Colonnello and Reborn? Meh, they can rejoin too." This is why Fon and Verde are such good friends. They're both as blunt as anything and their interests mesh together. While Fon was usually nicer with telling the truth, Verde was the more straightforward one. Verde laughed and so did Fon.

"Yeah, she is from what I've heard and Lal is helping her out. Pretty sure the next person to join back in the group is Viper. That's if she ever gets the guts to tell Skull that she's sorry for treating him like the shit under her shoe when she was dating Belphegor and pushing drugs for Varia." Those were some tough times for Verde, seeing the girl of his dreams shift drugs like there was no tomorrow. It was always about the money with her and while she never did those said drugs, Verde didn't want to have to come and visit her in a behavioural unit because she got caught.

"Oh you mean the same way that you need to try and get the guts to tell her that you like her? I understand it perfectly well then." Verde scowled at Fon who just gave him a simple and innocent smile, like he had said or done nothing wrong.

"If it wasn't already clear enough, she likes Colonnello. Even a blind man could see that the only reason she started dating Belphegor was because Lal and Colonnello had started dating at the time. Come on Fon, work with me here!" The said boy laughed out and he had to hold his stomach, as though it were about to fall off in a minute because he was laughing so hard. Verde looked at his watch before sighing deeply. He waited for Fon to calm down.

"You done?"

"Hell yeah. Anyway, let's make a bet. If you ask Viper out today, I'll dump Oregano today as well."

Verde gave his friend a shocked expression. "You're willing to throw away your relationship...just so that I can get one? Isn't that a bit risky, putting your girlfriend on the line? Actually, will you do it?"

"No," deadpanned Fon. "Are you crazy? I was basically trying to prove a point that you won't have the courage to tell her you like her today, the same way that she has the courage to go and apologize to Skull after the way she had treated him. I'm not dumping Oregano for you man, sorry." Fon punched him lightly and Verde shook his head, a smile on his face.

"Fon, you haven't changed a bit."

~x~

Skull was unchaining his bike when he was approached by someone. "Luce, Lal? What's up?"He finally turned to see his ex best friend standing there. He scowled before standing up and sticking his chain back into his bag. He threw it on his back before wheeling his back away from her. He had nothing to say to her and she was next on the list after Reborn and Colonnello that he wouldn't mind living life without.

"Skull, please wait! I'm sorry!"

He sighed and turned around, a deadly look in his eyes. She flinched, not knowing that he could have been this cold. But then again, she had been cold to him too. She had deserved this. She had called him worse things than Colonnello and Reborn had ever called him. Okay, maybe not that bad, but she had let him down the most when she was supposed to be the one who never left his side. She was disgusted even with herself.

"Why, so you can tell me again and again how much you love Belphegor and that if I don't like it, I can go and get screwed elsewhere? Or maybe I should go and find another best friend to go and care about?" Viper could feel the tears springing up to her eyes and Skull didn't feel sorry in the slightest. She deserved all of this. Everything that she was getting, she's had it coming for a while now.

"But how comes you've started talking to Lal again then? Why not me, I'm your best friend!"

"Correction, I was your best friend. I tried everything, to make it better, to make sure that you didn't fall down the path of drugs and everything else, but you wouldn't want to listen to me! Best friends look out for each other, not cause each other fucking pain! Lal on the other hand wasn't really someone I knew I could count on 100% compared to you! Trust is earned Viper, not fucking given on a silver platter. Now, I've got somewhere that I need to be."

He got on his bike and pushed away from her before he started pedaling madly in order to increase his speed. Viper just watched his back as the tears rolled down her face. She hadn't actually expected for him to be that rude at all, but she knew damn well that she deserved it. She looked in her purse to see if she had enough money and she sighed. She knew one bar that would be open at this time of the day for her to get wasted in.

Verde watched her go with a concerned look in his eyes. He knew that Skull would burst out like that, but he didn't want to say anything. To be honest, it was like him and what he had done to Fon, so he knew how she felt. He also knew of her drinking habits.

"Viper."

The girl turned to face him and sighed when she saw who it was. "Come to laugh at me have we? You saw what happened out there, he completely trashed me. The same way I did to him two years ago. I'm so stupid, to think that he will just come running back to me and we can be best friends again. What a joke. Anyway, I could do with a drinking partner, wanna come with?"

He ignored her question and instead, grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. She gasped. "Where are you taking me?"

"Anywhere but a bar. I'm going to get you out of your state Viper."

"And why do you care?" she muttered. She suddenly decided that she liked the feel of Verde's hand on hers. She looked up at him as he took charge. She was confused, but at the same time, she was accepting it. Did Verde always look this manly when he took charge of things? It was weird seeing him not spew things about science and what not. She found this side of him...quite hot.

"Because I just do, no time for questions. I did however, get us tickets to that murder mystery house."

Viper gasped. "But those tickets are like...kind of expensive! Why did you buy them you idiot?" Verde smiled and ignored her question as he dragged her along. Viper couldn't help but feel her cheeks glow. He would do such a thing for her? They weren't even good friends.

"If you really want to know, then it's because as much as I too think that the group should get back together, we should start off with baby steps. I'm friends with Fon again, you're talking to me at the very least, so the three of us should hang out, the same way Lal, Skull and Luce hang out. Reborn and Colonnello can fit in whenever."

He really didn't want Colonnello to join back because he knew that her attention would be diverted from him to Colonnello and right now, he liked the amount of attention that Viper was giving him. He felt really good. Also, knowing that the girl that he had a crush on was holding his hand, even if he did kind of make her, was a nice feeling.

"I guess you're right. Then I can slip into Skull's life gradually and get him to trust me again. You wouldn't be able to stir up a plan for that, would you? Okay, maybe not." She had seen the face that he had given her and she immediately shut up. But this was better than getting wasted in a bar before she got home anyway. At least she found someone who cared.

* * *

So how was that chapter for you? I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it! Do you guys like the way it's going? It's not moving too fast is it? I have a tendency to make my stories move like super quick and it bugs me as well as you guys as well!

Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Stick in a few reviews too!

Lolita-chan


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

So yes, it has been quite a while since I updated this very story in particular, but university has gotten in the way of my writing! Don't worry, my exams will soon be over and I'll have all summer to be writing and updating stories! Thank you for being so patient!

Today is my 5th year anniversary of writing! Been on the website, writing stories for the past 5 years! Funny how time flies by. To think I was 14 when I first started and now look at me, I'm 19! I love it!

So I think it's obvious that I don't own KHR, no need to disclaim that! I apologize in advance for any horrible spelling and grammar mistakes!

ENJOY!

* * *

 **Flee in 7 different directions**

 **Chapter three**

Lal had gone round to Skull's house and the woman had hugged her so hard once she recognised her. "You want Skull? Oh well, he's gone to the field at the end of the road with his father to practice for the competition next month. Will you be going to that?" Lal had nodded her head, smiling at the woman's bubbly nature and she had waved at her before accepting a cookie and heading off to the field.

The closer she got, the bigger the evidence got that Skull was there. The revving of his engine, the smell of burning rubber and a shouting man, shouting encouraging words. Lal got there and noticed his dad on a small hill, watching Skull soar in the air with his franken bike*. She saw the man wear a proud smile on his face as he watched his son move so elegantly, like the biking world his own to rule and to Lal, it looked like he could be the King of all stunt men.

"Okay, final lap son and then bring it home!"

Lal didn't actually know how Skull was able to hear that, but she realised that he had a walkie talkie and it was possible that Skull maybe had an earpiece that allowed him to listen to his father. Lal smiled at the bond that they shared and she moved forward, She didn't want to scare the man, so she called him.

"Hello sir, your wife told me that you would be here with Skull."

The said man turned around and when his eyes fell upon Lal's form, he gave her a big grin. "Why, if it isn't the little army girl, how are you? How's your father?" They both made small talk before Skull finally finished his lap. He brought it home with a little mud skid about 5 meters away from them. The two of them cut off their conversation to watch him, their reactions so very different.

Skull's father watched with a gleam in his eyes as he watched his son take off his helmet with a smile on his face. It was a smile that he was beyond happy to do such a thing. He was doing the thing that he loved and him spending time with his son was great. He was happy that Skull wasn't one of those moody teens who found it embarrassing to hang out with his father and still do things with him. He couldn't have asked for a better son.

Lal on the other hand couldn't help but watch as Skull took off his helmet and ruffled his hair with a smirk on his face. It was almost all in slow motion as she could feel her face going red. When the hell did she ever think of Skull in this way? She knew that if he had decided to remove his shirt, she would just faint as well.

"Oh, hey Lal, what's up?"

Lal made sure that she was okay to reply, clearing her throat and smiling. "I'm good. And you're good too. At biking. Like amazingly good." He laughed as he looked down at his helmet and looked up at her from his side view. It was like he looked like one of those hot guys whose hair was soaking wet and he was modelling for Vogue or something.

"Haha, thanks, that means a lot to me. Hey old man, how did I do?"

"Skull, you're excellent as usual. Now let's head back, your mother is waiting with our dinner. Lal, you're also more than welcome to come and join us as well." He started walking down as Skull got his bike and started wheeling it out of the field. They had bought the field as a practice for Skull, so it was their private property. Lal walked by his side as she had to keep on looking straight and not up at him.

"So what are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you here."

Lal felt like running home and shooting herself with one of her dad's LSWs. She had almost forgotten the reason as to why she even came here in the first place and now that Skull asked her, she finally remembered. Damn Skull and his seemingly good looks.

"Oh, I saw you at the end of the day talking to Viper, I just wanted to know what that was all about. You didn't exactly look like you were in the best of moods when you finished talking with her. I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Skull pushed his bike into the garage before looking into Lal's eyes. It made her uncomfortable. He sighed and turned back to his bike to chain it up and do all the normal procedures when it comes to the safety of his bike.

"I was just giving her a taste of her own medicine you know? After the way she treated me, I wanted her to see how it felt to be on the receiving end of it all. Don't worry though, I will talk to her again, I just wanted her to get that feeling. Thanks for worrying though. I don't really see it as something important that you had to come and check up on me." He ruffled her hair while laughing and Lal could feel herself burning up at the contact. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, even when she was still with Colonnello. It was just weird that she was beginning to feel this way with Skull.

"But as my dad said, you're more than welcome to stay and have some dinner with us. If you want."

It was tempting, it really was, but there was a sheet of paper within her bag that was screaming her name, saying that she needed to get her physics work done, rather than hang out with an old friend that puberty had done him well with. She gave him a sad smile before shaking her head.

"Sorry Skull, I've got physics homework that's calling my name and I have a feeling that I might just fail it this year. You know that maths and all that stuff has never been my strong point. I wasn't ever one for numbers." She shrugged her shoulders before looking at Skull's thoughtful expression. "You have an idea don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, I can help you with your homework. With me being interested in making bikes and all that, I had to take part in mechanics, which led me to find my hidden love and talents for anything maths related. I can help you with your homework. I'm no Verde, but I can get you to pass. Whaddya say?"

He grinned at her with his eyes closed and his bright pearl teeth shining and she couldn't say no to such an innocent face like that. Who would she be to rudely say no huh? She felt herself get warm as she summoned enough courage to hook her arm with his, making him look down at her in surprise before smiling. Besides, she gets to spend more time with him without it being awkward. This is a perfect way for them to get their friendship to the point where it should have been, if not for the 2 years break.

"Well, we can't study on an empty stomach and Zia** Isabelle cooks the best. Looks like I'm staying after all, maggot."

Skull laughed when she called him a maggot and found that he enjoyed having Lal on his arm like this. "Let's go then, Mirch."

~x~

"I must admit Verde, I'm surprised that we're here. I thought I would have been scraping out my eyeballs because you wanted me to go to some science museum with you." They were at the arcade instead and Viper hadn't stepped in there since they all hung out last together, which was around the age of 15 when they thought that the arcade was too lame for them. They were at the bowling alley at the back of place and she decided that she liked the way Verde took control. He looked over at her as he got another strike from over his shoulder. She gulped harshly and she was happy that he couldn't see her blush.

"That just shows how little you know of me then. Just because I'm smart doesn't mean I actually do all that sort of stuff for fun. That will just be dull and I hate boring things." That was something Viper did know. It was why he had a mutual understanding with Skull who was the liveliest of the bunch. They were both crazy for the things they loved, but they couldn't keep still. Sure, Verde made it more academic, but Skull could also keep up with his works, making a rivalry between the two.

It was Viper's turn to bowl and she picked up a purple bowling ball before releasing a breath. There was something within her that was stirring whenever Verde spoke. She was finally listening to him and he was there for her! Right now, she would be drunk, go home, argue a bit with her mum before heading up to her bed and making sure that she didn't bother her. She loved her mother and she knew that she gave her a hard time. She had to apologize.

She ran forward and swung the ball, missing just one pin and she hissed in frustration. She heard Verde snicker behind her and when she turned to face him, he wore a simple smirk that made her shiver. He looked so good with it on his lips! All images of Colonnello that she had in her head was gone and she could see herself being with Verde. She blushed. Her purple ball showed up again and she grabbed it, practically throwing the ball at the last pin which happily went down.

She turned on her heels and walked towards Verde who stood there, staring down at her. "You're right, I don't really know anything about you, even if we were friends since we were like five. I want to change that. I want to stop being a bitch to everyone about me, especially my mother. I want to get to know you as well, Verde. Will you let me?"

She looked up at him and Verde stared down at her in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that at all. He couldn't even tell if she was being genuine as well because he couldn't see her eyes. He just laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

"I almost forgot!" She grabbed her hood and quickly threw it off of her head and Verde gasped. Her eyes were closed as he could finally see her full face. She was smiling at him and her hair was a light shade of purple. "I did say that I will show you my eyes, didn't I? Verde, you didn't ask for anything perverted when you basically could have. I'll show you my eyes."

She opened them slowly and Verde found himself staring at some practically transparent eyes, but there was a hint of lilac. He couldn't breathe as he stared into her eyes, almost looking directly at her soul. When they were younger, she would always hide her eyes from anyone and she would use black sunglasses and say to the teachers that the sun irritated her eyes. Even Viper herself was staring into Verde's eyes, her blush now visible as her hood was no longer hiding the top half of her face.

"I hate them."

Verde blinked as she turned her head away. "Why? They're so unique, so beautiful. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul and yours? Wow...Sorry if that sounded cheesy."

Verde literally wanted to end his life for saying such a thing and he hoped that she didn't catch onto what he really meant with that statement. Viper turned her head back quickly. "It's okay, I like cliched stuff. Do you really mean it?"

"Every word. Anyway, you want to continue getting creamed on this match? Then we can go for some dinner because I'm starving."

Viper laughed as she watched Verde pick up the green ball and she stood there with her hands on her hips. She didn't bother putting her hood back on, knowing that the bowling alley is quite dark so any other kids from school wouldn't be able to see her eyes anyway.

"Don't speak too soon Verde, I could make a huge comeback and finish you off. But dinner sounds good."

They both looked at each other with a grin on their faces.

~x~

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Well, we're not getting rid of it. I don't want to. Besides, your dad won't kill me, will he?"

"Jury's still out on that one."

"Great."

"Hey, you're usually so calm, what's wrong now?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Luce, I'm about to tell your parents that we've been screwing which has now led to a baby growing inside of you! And we're only 18!"

"I guess you're right."

"That baby is making you lose a few IQ points."

"Shut your mouth."

"Make me."

Luce grinned when Xanxus said that and he too smirked. He held her around her waist as he kissed her lips. It made her toes curl as she got up on her tip toes, trying to get at a better angle. She ran her hands through his dark hair and he growled as they both deepened the kiss, wanting to taste more and more of each other.

Xanxus then stopped gently as Luce lay her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as it was beating erratically. She smiled, realising that she was the one who had caused for it to beat like that. It was his indication to her to show how much he really loved her.

"As much as I would love to carry on, I think it's time we stopped kissing at the doorstep and actually get inside so that your parents can meet the one who defiled their daughter, don't you think?" Luce found it funny how Xanxus, the guy who was the leader of the scariest gang that their school ever saw, was actually just like any random teenager that you would come across. Sure he wasn't scared of most people and he wore a permanent scowl on his face, but he was still a normal teenaged boy who found love in a girl and was scared shitless of her father.

Luce opened the door and went through into the sitting room where her parents were sitting. Xanxus was surprised that her parents looked so young! Her father stood up, a good 6 inches taller than Xanxus and he held out his hand for a good shake. Without even thinking, Xanxus shook the older man's hand in order to show his respect. He then grinned.

"So you're Xanxus huh? Let's not beat about the bush eh? I hear you love my daughter and that you don't want to get rid of your baby, is that so?"

"Yes sir." Xanxus held Luce around her waist with a determined look as he gazed into her father's eyes. He was prepared for this. He was going to be a better father than his adoptive father, that was his goal. The old man had taken him in from when he was young after his mother claimed that he was his child. The old man took him in and then helped his mother get her mental state back. He was grateful for everything that that man did for him and his mother, even when he knew that he wasn't his dad. There was no way he was about to abandon his baby if a man who wasn't even his father could do that for him.

"That's good enough for me. As you can see, my wife and I had Luce around your age as well and I like to think that we're doing fine. We were able to still go to university because that was what we both wanted and we also raised Luce up into a fine young woman. As long as you're not going to leave my daughter to raise the baby up by herself, I'm happy that you're the father to my grandchild."

Luce's mother then clapped her hands as she grinned. "Well, now that all the useless formal stuff is done, who wants to eat! I'm pretty sure that you're both starving and Luce is eating for two right now. Let's go!" She shooed them into the dining room and smiled when she caught her husband's eyes.

She served her spaghetti and Xanxus' eyes widened. "This tastes really good!" He started eating faster and faster, making Luce's mother blush.

"That's my wife's cooking for you! Now tell me Xanxus, what it is you want to do in your future?" Luce froze and looked over at Xanxus, but luckily, her parents eyes weren't on her, so they didn't get to see her reaction. Xanxus looked up calmly and glanced at Luce quickly.

"Well, my father has many businesses and my four older brother's are currently running four of them. I'm going to take over his fifth and last one as soon as I'm 21. He hasn't really explained to me what it's about, but he told me that's part of my training because I'm too immature to understand." Xanxus fumed silently when he said that. He's 18 for God's sake, how mature does his dad want him? The older man laughed before they carried on eating.

By the end of dinner, Xanxus had to head out. Luce walked him out until the end of her road. She grinned up at him as his red eyes peered down at her. He then sighed. "Don't worry, I'll stop the whole thing with Varia. Kind of hard when I'm the leader of it all, but trust me, I'll drop out in a heartbeat. For you and the baby, okay?"

Luce nodded her head, her heart beating so fast. It was moments like this that made her cherish her relationship with Xanxus. He acted like a hard nut a lot of the time, but when he loved her, he damn well showed his love. She was so happy that Reborn broke up with her, it was actually a blessing in disguise. "It's okay. I just don't want you making enemies that will put us in danger, or worse yet, get you killed. If there's anything worse than a baby not having a father around, it's the baby's father being dead."

They both shared one last kiss together before Xanxus got in his car and sped off. Luce smiled and pulled out her phone before calling Skull to tell him how her night went.

* * *

"Wow, the group got bigger."

Skull walked over to the tree where he and Luce usually hang out only to see that Luce was not alone. Sure, Lal was now a part of them, but there was Viper, Verde and Fon. Not that Skull was complaining either. Viper saw her ex best friend and immediately stood up. She looked at Verde for some moral support and he nodded slightly, as though to say that everything is going to be okay. She smiled at him softly before turning to Skull. When she opened her mouth to ask to talk to him in private, he silenced her.

"Viper, it's okay, I forgive you."

Her mouth snapped shut, giving him a sceptical look, as though she didn't really believe him. "It didn't seem like it yesterday."

"I know, I just wanted to show you how much it hurt me when you did it to me. I'm not evil as to do that for the next two years though."

"That hurt. I can't believe that's how I treated you." Her face fell when she thought about the way she tried to apologize the day before and her heart literally tore in two when her best friend ignored her. Now she knew how he had felt all those years ago.

"I know, but whatever. Hey Fon, Verde. How's life treating you guys?" Fon was never in his life horrible to Skull, so he didn't feel bad about every treating Skull like shit because he never did. It did however, make Fon's blood boil whenever he thought of how Reborn and Colonnello treated him, even when he told them that they were taking it too far. He didn't blame the poor boy for eventually branching out and meeting other people to be his friends, though he was clearly happy with being by himself most of the time.

"I'm great, I'm teaching my own classes now at the dojo." They both fist bumped when Fon said that. With Skull's wild dream of becoming a stuntman, it was also Fon's wild dream of owning his own dojo. He was an exceptional student at what he did and he had been a black belt 5th dan for many years now, volunteering at the dojo he attended as well. He was extremely close to his dojo dream.

"What about you, the whole stuntman thing is cool right?"

"Yeah, you know me. I had to take mechanics, physics and maths this year to make sure that I make the perfect bike for the the finals next year. Next month though, it's the first round to see if I qualify for that competition. Gotta start now so that in the finals next year, I will definitely win."

"I don't doubt you at all, I can see you winning man. Think I can buy a ticket for the competition?"

Skull's eyes lit up when he heard that another one of his friends wanted to come and see him and a lump got stuck in Lal's throat when she saw that innocent and sweet look on his face. It was like he honestly hadn't been expecting that request even though it looked like Fon was the closest guy friend that he had right now. She smiled and looked down at her lap when she thought of Skull being happy. If anyone in their group deserved to be happy, it was Skull.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my dad has some tickets left over. If you want, you can come around tonight or bring the money tomorrow and I bring in the ticket as well."

"I might come to yours actually. It's been awhile since I last saw your parents and it would be nice to you know, say hello and all."

"Same here, I want to buy a ticket and I want to see your parents. Also, if I recall correctly, it's Wednesday which means that your mother should be making lasagne tonight, taking into consideration that she still goes by your little Wednesday lasagna rule that you made back when you were like five." They snickered when they remembered that and Skull just rolled his eyes, not even mad at the little joke, but was actually feeling quite happy. Verde had managed to remember that little memory even though it was completely random.

"I'm guessing you want to come over for dinner then."

"If he's going, then I'm coming!"

Skull and the others gave Viper a brief look, but didn't stare just in case they got her flustered.

"Well seeing as I'm coming over already, I might as well stay for dinner."

"I'm feeding for two so make sure that there's a lot of food! Don't give me that look Skull, I already told them. I can't hide secrets from my friends now can I?"

The only one that was left to speak up was Lal and she was sat there, looking at Skull. He looked down at her while the others were talking and he flashed her a simple smile, one that made her smile back, just as shy. He smirked. Now that was different. Lal never looked shy unless she was talking to Colonnello about something serious. He sat down next to her.

"So I'm guessing that you want in as well, right?"

"I can't, I ate at yours last night, that would be rude."

"Because I care. Come on, it will be fun. The group is practically back together and you don't wanna come?" He looked at her with his intense indigo eyes and she couldn't help but feel so lost. Her head started swirling as she realised that she had stopped breathing. Blinking to bring herself back to reality, she shrugged.

"If you insist maggot, I might as well come then huh?"

"That's the Lal I know!" He got her in a headlock and she yelped in surprise before they started laughing and she wriggled her way out of his hold before punching the back of his head. She laughed when he hit the ground, but yelped slightly when Skull reached out, making her drop down to the ground with him. She tumbled and fell on top of him as they both laughed. When their laughing slowed, they were staring at one another. Her hands were placed up against his chest as she stared into his eyes.

Skull coughed and they quickly moved from their position before their friends looked up from their own conversations and looked at them. Their faces turned a nice scarlet colour as they crawled away from one another and dusted themselves down before standing up. They were looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, making sure not to make eye contact with one another. Talk about awkward.

Lal's heart was pounding like a snare drum. What the hell was that? It had only been like three days since she broke up with Colonnello and already she was moving on? Moving onto a guy who was one of her oldest friends for that matter. How was it that puny little Skull who was treated as the youngest most bullied brother of the group, suddenly blossomed into a man that she suddenly had her eyes on? He was making her feel emotions crazier than Colonnello had ever made her feel.

And she liked that.

* * *

*Franken bike = A bike that you make yourself from random parts of other bikes. Think os it like Frankenstein making the creature.

**Zia = Aunt in Italian

* * *

So how was that for you? I hope you enjoyed it!

I'll let you in on a little secret as to why I take so long to update. I like to be 2 chapters ahead of my stories at the very least so that I don't make any mistakes and I know what I'm writing. Usually, if I take long to update, it means I'm having trouble with a chapter 2 chapters in advance. That's usually it lol.

Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Reviews would be amazing! They're my little motivators!

Lolita-chan


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

So it has been a very long time since I last updated this story! I actually didn't realise that I hadn't published this chapter, until I checked and noticed that actually, I was still on 3 chapters for this story! My sincere apologies! Well, to those who are actually reading this lol.

Disclaimers are boring (pretty sure we all know I don't own KHR by now)

ENJOY!

* * *

 **Flee in seven different directions**

 **Chapter four**

Skull was on his way to his last lesson of the day. Before, he would have never cared if he didn't have any classes with any of his friends, except for Viper, but now, he wished that they were all back together, save for Reborn and Colonnello. Those two can stay out of the group for all he cares.

He walked by a couple that was kissing the life out of each other's lips and he wanted to barf, but at the same time, he wanted to do that with Lal. He was a guy who liked a girl and he wasn't a shy guy when it came to love. He knew that Lal was a girl who didn't like to be treated like a fragile egg, but like a dominating woman. Skull liked that.

He finally walked by the couple and his need to barf exceeded 9000 levels. It was Reborn and his girlfriend...wait, that wasn't Bianchi! Huh, he wasn't joking when he called himself a player. That made Skull feel sick. He didn't know why guys liked to have multiple girls at one time, or to jump from girl to girl day to day.

He looked away from the both of them as Viper suddenly hit the back of his head. He flinched a little bit. "What was that for?"

"You didn't wait for me when this is our only lesson together."

"Sorry, I'm so used to walking to it by myself. C'mon then, let's go."

They didn't realise that Reborn was watching them out of the corner of his eye. His watchful eyes followed the two of them, wondering when the two of them started talking again. If anything, it was because of Viper that Skull finally left the group. Yeah, so sure, he was a catalyst, but that didn't mean shit. Well to him it didn't.

There was only one thing he was worried about and that was the fact that he knows that Skull saw he wasn't with Bianchi, but was actually with another girl. He knew the runt wouldn't say anything, but what if he did? Nah, Skull would want nothing to do with anyone that has anything to do with him, so he's in the clear.

"Reborn is cheating on Bianchi," was all Skull said to Viper when they got into their classroom. Viper looked up at him through her hood as though to question him why he cared and he immediately understood it.

"I just hate that guy so much and I hate the idea of him using girls like that. After all, I'm in the same cookery class as her and although her cooking is awful, she is a pretty chill person. She seems to be extremely in love with Reborn though, she won't shut up about him. It's not fair on her."

Viper nodded her head, understanding where he was coming from. Bel was bisexual and of course she hadn't known this at the time. Losing her boyfriend to a guy had kind of weirded her out, but she got over it in time. Actually, no, she never got over it because above all guys to date, it was Fran. She hated that guy! Colonnello was there to get her through it, but she knew it was dangerous turf to go for Lal's boyfriend, so she tried to make that crush die quickly before she ended up dying when Lal found out. Now there could be someone else in the picture.

"Reborn and Colonnello have this bet from what I've heard. That they can pull any girl without their girlfriends knowing. Clearly Colonnello has lost because Lal found out, so there really is no reason for Reborn to continue with it. Unless he doesn't know because no one really knows that status of that couple. Who knows, maybe Reborn enjoys that life."

Skull gave her a disgusted look before they sat down to get on with the lesson. He wasn't the sort of guy who enjoyed doing that sort of stuff. He respected a girl as much as he could, besides, he never had a girlfriend. There was no girl who was willing enough to date him, so if they did, why would he cheat on her? Especially if he was able to ask Lal out. She had already been cheated on, why would he cheat on her, considering he has had a crush on her longer than Colonnello ever did.

He tried to concentrate in class, but he was just so excited because the friends that he actually liked were meeting up at his house for the first time in two years! He looked over and saw Viper staring in his general direction, though he couldn't be quite sure seeing as her eyes were never showing. He saw a smile crawl up on her lips and he grinned back as well.

"Okay, so when we go on this school trip, you will be partnered with other people from around the year, not anyone in this class. I'll call out the name's."

The man started calling out a bunch of names and Skull didn't bother listening so early on. Both his name and Viper's name was somewhere near the end of the list due to their last names beginning with R and T. He heard Viper's name and she was partnered off with Verde. That made Skull sit up even straighter. Maybe if he was lucky he would get...

"Skull, you're partnered with Colonnello."

Skull swore under his breath, not liking that at all. He was going to have to be paired with HIM?!

"Oh sorry, I meant Lal. Iris is paired off with Colonnello, though I don't know why her name is there when her last name begins with a H."

Skull noticed Iris smirking off somewhere at the side. Of course she would be happy, she was the reason why Lal and Colonnello broke up. While he hated her for getting between a relationship which was stupid because Lal could have wrecked her if she wanted to, he had to thank her otherwise there would be no way that he would be friends with them at all again. He guessed her had a little reason to like her.

After a punishing hour, the bell went, signalling the end of the school day and that they were free to leave. Viper caught up with Skull as they went to the gates to go and meet the rest. "I think this is going to be the first school trip we'll go on and I'll actually like my partner." Hidden to Skull, Viper found herself falling the rude geek as she blushed when thinking about him even. She could tell that she had a small crush on him and whether it was going to blossom was a different story.

"Yeah, at least we're all friends again this time around. Imagine if we weren't talking and we all got stuck together. I think a fight would have happened somewhere along the line." They laughed as Skull spotted Lal walking over to them, a little quickly. She had this smile on her face and Skull couldn't help but watch her. She looked cute in her uniform and Skull knew her. She would get angry at someone for calling her cute, but she would enjoy being seen as a girl for once and not one of the guys, so it would lift her mood for the rest of the day.

"Hey guys! Did you get your partners read out to you for the school trip?"

"Yeah, my partner is Verde. Verde!" Viper had seen him walk out of the building looking like the third wheel as Fon was escorting Oregano to the gate. He seemed to perk up when he saw he as she ran towards him. Lal seemed to catch on and knew that Viper most probably had a thing for Verde now and she shifted her attention back to Skull who was doing the same thing to her.

"Yeah, I got you huh? I should count myself lucky, Old man Nougat accidentally told me I had Colonnello, but he read it wrong and it's Iris who has him."

Lal bristled at her name, but decided to let it go, not even letting it bother her. No, instead, she had an amazing friend who she had been rude to in order to get some guy to date her, even though it wasn't known whether they were going to be together for the rest of their lives or not. She broke a perfectly good friendship for nothing.

"Hey, what's with the long face?"

Lal hadn't realised that she looked upset and thoughtful. "I was just thinking -"

"Don't hurt yourself."

"I'll hurt _you_ maggot!"

Skull raised his hands but flashed her a dangerous smirk which made her melt inside. "I was just thinking about how rude I was to you, just so I could get Colonnello to like me. I was so stupid. I'm sorry for the way I treated you."

He looked at her, wondering what had brought this on and he smiled, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets and shrugging his shoulders, pulling out a cigarette while they were now off of school grounds, not like he would have cared anyway.

"Don't sweat it, it's in the past right? Plus, I like you better this way. This time you're not beating me up."

He flashed her a smile that got her breath caught her in chest. These feelings that she got were so random and they were about Skull! She hadn't felt this way about a guy in a long time! Yeah, sure, she loved Colonnello, but it was getting boring with him. He still treated her like one of the guys, despite being his girlfriend. The only difference was that they held hands and kissed. Apart from that, she felt like every other friend to him, there was nothing special between them. He never tried to make her feel special.

But Skull on the other hand. She felt like she could be his ultimate best friend if given time to get used to one another again. He liked to talk to her, even when they were in a big group. He made her feel like an actual girl, and not a corporal's daughter who had to be tough, like her father. He made her feel special and that she was the only one in the world for him. After all, he let her into his life again even though she didn't deserve it.

"And how do you feel about being my partner then?"

She had to ask it, to see where they still stand and whether he had bitter feelings towards her or not. Also, she wanted to see if he liked her enough that she would be comfortable to tell him her feelings for him. Well, yeah, not so early on, not when she had just gotten out of a relationship, but more she could accept the crush and see if it develops.

"It's cool, at least I get the pretty girl."

He winked at her before turning his attention to Fon who had called out to him. Luce came bounding out of the school gates as well and when she saw Lal staring at Skull, she smirked and tugged on her friend's arm. Lal was jerked out of her thoughts rudely to see the pregnant teen's navy blue eyes shine at her in a way she didn't really enjoy.

"So, you like Skull huh?"

The two of them were walking ahead of the group so that the others couldn't hear them. Then they were suddenly joined by Viper who didn't want to be missed out on the group gossip. "What are we talking about?"

"Lal's crush on Skull."

"I don't have one on him!" She hissed out very quietly so that the guys couldn't hear. They were waiting for Fon to say bye to his girlfriend anyway before she went off in the opposite direction to them all.

"It's so obvious! I even just saw the way she was staring at him, a blush on her face and everything!"

Viper gasped. "No way! That's so cute, maybe that's why you constantly bullied him, you had a hidden crush on him and tried to hide it by 'liking' Colonnello!"

"Wait, what?! NO! Just what the hell is wrong with you, where did you even come up with that shitty explanation?" Lal was fuming right now, but the two girls didn't seem to care as they were giggling at her now blushing face. Lal just sighed, knowing that they weren't going to drop it, like no way.

"Okay, fine! Yes, I was staring at him because he said something that shocked me! That's all! I just broke up with Colonnello, I'm not a girl who uses guys a rebound. I'm not desperate to be in a relationship."

Luce and Viper glanced at one another.

"But if you were to be in a relationship, it would be with Skull, right?"

They watched as she paused and they thought that she was going to confess, but instead, she turned to glare at the both of them. They shivered before promising that they were both done with their questions and Lal nodded before walking off ahead again.

Skull had been watching Lal out of the corner of his eye as Verde was talking. The girls seemed to be talking about something pretty secretive, but he couldn't hear about what it was, considering how far in front they were walking.

"Skull, I would appreciate it if you would look at me while I'm talking so that I get the impression that you're actually listening to me as I talk, instead of staring at Lal."

Skull jumped before giving him a sheepish expression and nodded his head. He knew that the guys knew of his crush on Lal, they weren't stupid. The only think that they didn't know was how it had started. He wasn't going to tell them because knowing Verde, if he ever did something to Lal to piss her off, he would open his big mouth on _why_ Skull has a crush on her and then he would be in trouble.

"Are you ever going to tell her?"

Skull groaned. Fon made it sound and look so easy! The guy already had many girls falling at his feet because they'd all seen him doing martial arts, so him walking up to Oregano must have been so simple! No, Skull was an enigma that people didn't understand, therefore they shunned him because of how they didn't understand him.

"Oh yeah sure, right after you tell me how long it took you to get the girl."

Verde and Skull looked at him expectantly and Skull was surprised that Verde even decided to get involved in the conversation. Maybe he too liked a girl? Well the only person that came to mind was...

"Verde likes Viper?"

Verde's head snapped straight back to look at Skull. He was mortified, how did he even know that?! Skull had to jump back as Verde had tried to silence him, but he laughed instead. Oh this was rich! Verde was actually capable of liking a girl?!

"Would you shut your mouth?"

"Only if you shut yours about Lal and I."

Verde grumbled but nodded his head all the same. He was well aware that Viper didn't like him like that also, but he was willing to be there for her, through whatever she was going through. The night before was a good example of him accepting his place in the friendzone, despite not actually being put into it by Viper herself. He thought he didn't have a chance.

"Oh, so the both of you want advice."

"I know how equations in maths and physics go, yet I can't work out the opposite sex. Uh, yeah I'm asking for some damn advice." Verde removed his glasses to flick off the bug that had decided to land on them before placing it back on his face.

"I just wanna know how to deal with Lal and what she would say if she doesn't like me back."

Fon grinned at both of his friends. "Oh you know, you just ask them. What was my motivation? I overheard some kid complaining how he had stalled in asking out some girl and his friend asked her out and she said yes. There was no way some other dude was going to ask out Oregano when I liked her! Pretty sure Ginger likes her."

Skull raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell is Ginger?"

"Iris' twin brother."

"Oh."

"But yeah, when you weigh out the pros and cons, it doesn't have many routes, only a 50-50 chance. She might say yes or no. Never know until you ask. You Skull, might want to hurry up though. Colonnello will not take the break up lightly and is the only guy crazy enough to want to date Lal, apart from you of course, so if there is no guy after her and he wants her back, she could say yes."

Skull's face darkened at the thought of Lal and Colonnello getting back together and it sickened him. Colonnello had his chance and he blew, it was time to let another guy who loved her and would care for her get involved now. He would even fight Colonnello if he had to, just to show him that he's not that same kid anymore.

"As for you Verde well...Viper could be prone to falling back to her Varia ways as we all know. They're getting bigger and richer now, so if they wanted to tempt her, they could just throw a briefcase full of money in her direction and she would be all theirs again. Do you want that?"

"Hello no!"

Fon nodded at the both of them. "Now all you need is an amazing way to get them by themselves and tell them you like them!"

Skull groaned once more. He knew there was something else to it. After all, if they did it in school, there are so many ways a person could come and ruin the moment and then all his confidence would be lost. He had seen it happen so many times in movies, but he had made his resolve now, he was going to say it regardless of what happened around them.

"Why, what did you do?" Verde was curious as to what his friend had gone and done for Oregano.

"I just asked her out at the school trip last year."

The other two of them just rolled their eyes as they finally turned down to Skull's road. The two groups left their conversations there as Skull walked through so that he could open the door. His arm brushed on Lal's and she shivered at the contact. She could feel the goosebumps that appeared on her arms due to just him touching her accidentally. She was too affected by him.

He opened the door and called out, "Mama?!"

The woman popped her head out of the kitchen that was down across the hallway. "Si? What is it?"

"Um, my friends, they're here for lasagne Wednesday."

The woman blinked as they all waved at her awkwardly. It had been a few years since they all stopped by at Skull's to have dinner, all except for Luce, so they didn't know how the woman would take it if they all just randomly came and wanted to eat at her house. They hadn't really thought things through, it was more of the excitement of being friends again as well as their stomachs leading them.

She just beamed.

"Thanks God I was only going to start on dinner now then! Sure thing, you guys just hang about and I'll make the lasagne! Skull's dad should be back in a bit!"

They all sighed in relief as they commented that his mother hadn't changed and Skull grinned, pride swelling up in his chest. His mother was the best and they all knew it.

"Skull, I heard you've made your own bike, can we go and check it out?"

Verde was into physics, and also into cars and other mechanical things. He was an inventor, so anything that was made, he liked it and he had an interest in Skull's bike, not knowing that his friend had a knack for that sort of stuff as well and it had made him quite excited. He wanted to see Skull's bike for himself. "You know, I was thinking of joining your dad as a pit crew for the competition next month, if that's okay. But of course, I would have to learn how the bike runs and who knows, maybe we could collab ideas."

They all watched as Skull's face lit up and it literally broke their hearts as to how harsh they had all been with him, except from once again Luce, and also Fon. He was still willing to be friends after they were actually his bullies. Verde had to stay strong as he had tried to make it sound that it would be a cool idea for them to be working on something together as friends and not that he was trying to steal the limelight. He hadn't been nice to Skull even though he was able to tolerate the guy.

"Yeah, let's go look at it now! Lasagne might be a little late, so might as well. If the rest of you want to come, you can, but other than that, this place hasn't changed much so make yourself at home!"

~x~

Dinner had gone so well with Skull's dad coming home and being pleasantly surprised at the amount of people that he saw sitting around his large family table. The man had just laughed, saying how each and everyone of them had grown up and that it was surprising that Skull was able to make Lal come home for the second time in a row. That made Viper and Luce smirk between each other and Lal and Skull blushed while trying to avoid looking at one another in the eye's.

Their dinner had gone so well with Skull's mum making their personal gelatos that she used to make them. Mint for Verde, strawberry for Fon, Blackberry for Viper, blueberry for Lal and orange for Luce. They were grateful for the woman remembering all of their flavours as they each spoke about what they were doing and what they wanted to do.

Eventually, it was time for them to get going as they all had school in the morning as well as homework to get done. Viper, Verde, Fon and Luce all had to go the same way before they would then break off to go down their respective roads, but Lal went the opposite direction to all four of them and would be walking by herself, so Skull took it upon himself to walk her home, despite her protests.

She stared at the taller boy who was almost a man and smiled when she thought of all the good things that he had done for them, especially her. "You know you didn't have to walk me home right?"

"Nah, I wanted to. Get some fresh air in me and also, can't leave you to walk the streets by yourself can I? You might get bored."

"What about you on your way back? Won't you get bored?"

"I've got earphones for my music."

"Oh."

Lal had never felt more awkward in a situation like this before. It was like for the first time ever, she was tongue tied around Skull and she didn't understand why it was happening. She then had a question that might get the conversation rolling.

"Um Skull?" He looked up from his phone to show that she had his full attention. She started. "Why do you...how do you know how to treat me?"

"Um, what?"

Lal sighed, and Skull could sense that she was frustrated with the fact that she didn't know how to word it. "When I was with Colonnello, it was like he treated me like I was one of the guys and not his girlfriend. I mean, yeah sure, I wasn't a preppy girl who latched onto her boyfriend 24/7, but sometimes I wanted to be treated like a girlfriend, not a guy. How do you do it? Treat me like I'm something special, because I mean come on, we both know that if a guy tried to talk to to me, he would end up in hospital and I would be just fine, yet you still treat me like I need someone to walk me home and I kind of like it."

Her face went scarlet red after saying that end part and she knew that she had just gone and blown it. Skull would NEVER like her back and she just got out of a break up, why would she be hinting stuff like that? Oh man, stupid, stupid!

Skull tried to look indifferent as he replied to her, making sure that he didn't sound like he had a crush on her or something. "I dunno, maybe because we've been friends for almost forever and a day, I just know how you act. I just know the type of person you are I guess." He shrugged his shoulders and threw her a little grin as they walked by each other. Then she watched the smile turn into a smirk.

"What, don't tell me you're crushing on me or something."

Her face went up in flames as she grabbed the front of his shirt, grabbing him down to her height. She had to put up this front to make it look like she clearly didn't have a crush on him. How could he just shoot off his mouth by saying something like that? It's so embarrassing!

"Would you like to repeat that one more time, maggot?"

Her voice was dangerously low and Skull couldn't help himself, he liked this side of her. The thing was, Skull was no longer that weak guy, he can actually fight and was extremely strong now. He could definitely ward off Lal now without breaking a sweat unlike before, but he had to be the bigger man and make it look like he had no strength. Instead, he just laughed it off.

"Aww come on Lal, no need to get defensive, it was just a joke! Let me go now." He placed his hands on top of hers and she flinched away quickly, enjoying the close feel of his hands on hers. She liked how they were standing close together, with hardly anything stopping them. With her hands falling by her side, he ruffled her hair, making her growl in anger.

"You've gotten soft Lal, wouldn't you have had me on the floor by now?"

"You got too heavy! You put on so much muscle, you're not that scrawny looking weakling anymore!"

She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest looking extremely nonchalant. Skull laughed, the vibrations making her knees feel weak as to how manly Skull had gotten. She bit her lip in order to stop a reaction pouring out of her lips. She couldn't do this anymore, Skull was turning out to be a big crush.

"Anyway, I guess that's enough teasing for one night, right? We're here now."

It was true, they had now gotten to Lal's house and she sighed. She had wanted to spend more time with Skull. She looked up at him, a grateful look on her face.

"Thank you for walking me home, I appreciate it. Can you elieve that Colonnello wouldn't have walked me home? He would have said something like my scowl was enough to make a guy piss himself and run off in fear so I wouldn't have anything to worry about. My hero." She rolled her eyes when she thought about her ex and it made her wonder what she actually saw in him.

Skull just nodded his head. "That's because Colonnello doesn't know how to treat a good girl when he sees one."

They stared at each other as Lal tried to figure out what he meant by that. She shoved it to the back of her mind as she walked up the path and to her front door. She knew that Skull would still be watching her to make sure that she actually got into the house safely. As soon as she opened the door, she turned around to Skull.

"Thanks once again. Get home safely you maggot!"

Skull laughed as he plugged his earphones into his phone, ready to listen to music on the way back. "You have no right to call me a maggot when I'm too much on your good side carino! Have a good night!"

She shut the door and leaned on it, realising how fast her heart was beating. She let a silly smile take over her lips as her mother came out into the hallway smirking, drying one of the cups with a tea towel.

"Was that Skull I could hear? You two haven't spoken in a long time, not ever since you started dating that blonde one." Lal's mother hated Colonnello. Not when he was younger, but more of the person he had grown to be, a cocky little shithead who was good looking, but unfortunately knew it and used it to take advantage of innocent girls. She didn't want her baby girl dating such a guy, she deserves better.

"Yeah, the whole group is coming back together and stuff, returning back to how we used to be. Of course Colonnello wouldn't dare try getting back into the group after what he did to me and Reborn probably thinks he's too cool to even wonder if we're alive or not, so he wouldn't know about the group getting back together anyway." She peeled off her shoes to make sure that there was no dirt on them. She then placed on the shoe rack and looked back up at her mum who still had the dangerous smirk on her face.

"Did I hear him call you carino?"

Lal blushed at that. So it hadn't been her making it up in her mind. She sighed. She told her mum everything. "I...I think I like Skull, but I just broke up with Colonnello, isn't it too quick?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants! Didn't you say you were falling out of love with Colonnello anyway? I'm glad you are, I didn't like him anyway. Skull seems more like the sort of guy you would date anyway. You never wanted to date one of your dad's army friend's sons."

Lal sighed knowing her mum was right but she shrugged her shoulders. At the time, Colonnello was different because he knew what Lal was going through everyday. Them not having their dad there and living in constant fear that one day, their phone was going to ring and they were going to be told that their dads got KIAd or something. It didn't help that Colonnello grew up to have puberty on his side at quite an early age and it just made her like him for ages. Well no more!

"It was different at the time, but Skull is someone I can see myself with for a long time, you know? Anyway, enough about this, I need to shower and sleep." She got up and kissed her mother's cheek before heading up the stairs. She looked at her phone and noticed that Luce must have snuck Skull's number into her contacts when she wasn't looking or something.

She bit her lip, staring at the number, her thumb hovering over it. In the heat of the moment, her thumb jabbed at the number and then she was staring at the screen in slight horror. She heard Skull's voice and she placed the phone to her ear.

" _Hello? Sorry, but who is this?"_

"H-hi, Skull, it's Lal. I was just calling to make sure that you got home safely."

" _Yeah I did, I'm home now, safe and sound and tucked into my bed. How did you get my number anyway?"_

"Luce must have-"

" _Luce, of course it was Luce. Anyway, was there maybe another reason why you wanted to call?"_

"No! Well anyway, goodnight and I'll see you in school tomorrow, okay?"

" _Sure thing Carino, I'll see you then. Sleep well okay?"_

They both hung up and Lal's heart was dancing within her chest in ways she just couldn't explain. She started squealing and her younger brother shouted sleepily for her to shut up and she just ignored him before jumping into the bathroom. She didn't know why it was so exciting for Skull to be talking to her on the phone when they had just been walking together.

She stepped into the shower and smiled as the beads of warm water hit her skin. She really does like Skull and there was no denying it.

* * *

So, how was that? Okay? Meh, I don't know who is sill reading this, but it's here nonetheless lol. Carino means cutie. I think. It's been so long since I wrote out this chapter haha.

But please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Lolita loves you all and I don't blame you if you've forgotten me and this story lol

Lolita-chan


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

I am finally back with the next chapter after putting it off for almost 3 months lol. There is a small handful of people reading this story, but I go through the little reviews I have and it just brings a smile to my face. I'm glad that there are people who do enjoy the story, you guys are like my motivation to continue. I thank you to the guest reviewers too such as **Gigi.** Skull is literally my favourite character too, he needs more stories about him!

Many of you are also surprised about Luce and Xanxus too, I mean, I am too! I thought it would be a crazy and different plot twist, and I guess I'm right! Plus, I wanted an older guy with dark hair to be Aria's dad. Make sense, right?

Disclaimers are boring, I mean, I think we all KNOW I'm not Akira Amano lol.

ENJOY!

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 **Flee in seven different directions**

 **Chapter five**

The rest of the week flew by and the next thing Lal knew, she was in Skull's room, packing up all her belongings. She had taken Skull up on his little offer to tutor her and she had to admit it, he really did make a good teacher. He had tried different methods with her, first his own way of working things out, but when he found that she didn't have a clue about what he was talking about, he found 5 more different ways to accommodate her.

"Are you saying I'm too stupid to understand it the way you do it?" That was the first thing that had come to her mind. She huffed in anger, trying to find ways that she could be 'angry' with him, so that he didn't catch on to her recently new found feelings for him.

He only laughed it off and shook his head. "Nope, I do value my life you know. That and some people have different ways of working things out. I'm just trying to find out which way is the best way for you."

That's how they had been hitting the books for the past two hours. Skull's mum didn't work on the weekends, so she brought them up snacks, trying to edge in on their conversations. Lal didn't mind it at all, and honestly, Skull wasn't even embarrassed. Lal noticed the way Skull would look at him mum, like there was an emotion she just couldn't place. It was looked almost like worry.

When Lal was putting her last book into her bag, she looked up at Skull who was sorting out his desk. She couldn't remember the last time she had been in his room, if she had even been in it in the first place. She was never on the same level of friendship with Skull when they were younger the same way that he was with Viper.

It was clean, so clean for a boy. Like, he ate downstairs, so there were never any plates with food on it. His wardrobe was filled with neatly folded and hanging clothes, and his cologne section smelt spectacular.

"Skull?"

"Hmm?"

"Is your...is your mama okay?"

Skull's head snapped up so fast that Lal was pretty sure it was going to break. He had given himself away now. If he tried to brush it off or lie, Lal would know that he is lying because his reaction was too big to ignore. She heard him sigh and he nodded his head. She wanted to call his bluff, but he started speaking instead, so she didn't want to interrupt him.

"Yeah, she's fine _now._ There's no point in lying to you. Mama got cancer 2 years ago. That was when I started distancing myself from you guys. You were all so rude to me anyway, there was no point in telling you guys. Luckily, we found out early, so all the necessary shit was done and she overcame it. I just...worry about her, you know? That's my mama I almost lost. I let her come up here to talk to us and not feel embarrassed about it because if we hadn't had found out, she wouldn't have been here to do all that to me. I love her."

Lal had the air knocked out of her. His mama had _cancer_? Tears rose up to her eyes because she knew that if that was her mama, she wouldn't have known what to do. Without even thinking, she came forward and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face into his chest so that he wouldn't see her crying and Skull sighed and wrapped his arms around her with a small smile.

"Hey, she's okay now. We go for her check ups to make sure it's not back and she's strong and healthy, like it never happened. Stop with the tears."

She let out a sob and that really shocked Skull. He couldn't understand why she was crying so much for him. No one had ever shown him such a powerful emotion or cared for his wellbeing so much before. Her grip tightened and Skull knew that this was about something else.

"We were such shit friends to you! How could you have been going through all this and no one was even there for you?! Fuck sake, how could you even let us back into your life?!"

Lal couldn't help herself as she pushed away from him and turned her back so that she could wipe her tears. Skull stared at her back, shocked that she would feel this way. He didn't know what to do with her. Maybe...maybe she was just on her period and she was feeling extra sensitive? Skull knew that if he voiced that, her tears would evaporate off her face in anger and she would have him on his knees begging for mercy.

So instead, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. Lal stopped short, her eyes still wet as Skull hugged her from behind. They stood there in silence, listening to nothing but each other's breathing. Lal's sobs became uneven before they came to a stop and she giggled.

"That's the second time I've cried in front of you. I've gotta stop doing that. You keep making me cry, maggot."

Skull still held her close and Lal didn't even bother moving away. She enjoyed staying in his arms, she felt so at peace. If she were to cry in front of Colonnello, she was pretty sure he would have just left her. He usually always tried to let her calm down by herself. Sometimes that was what she needed, but times like this, she needed a hug.

"Hey, I don't mind. And about my mama? Forget about it, okay? Looks like we've all done things in the last two years that we all regret. At least you're here now, right? The past is the past, I know my mama is strong, but this is the present. So no crying okay? I don't want to be on the same level as Colonnello, making you cry all the time."

Lal nodded her head and Skull smiled. He had the strongest urge to kiss her cheek and tell her that everything will be okay, but he didn't know how she would take it. She might punch him in the face and that wasn't really what he wanted. He actually liked his face.

He let his arms unwrap themselves from her body and she turned to smile at him. She then looked down, looking extremely shy. Skull could never hide his surprise. She was doing all these things that he had never seen her do before. Acting shy was something Luce would do, not Lal!

"I was wondering," she started off slowly. "If I could watch you? You know, when you're out on your bike?"

She raised her head to see his reaction and she saw that his eyes were wide. He nodded his head, still trying to get his head around the question that had been asked.

"Yeah, yeah sure. You wanna come and watch now?"

Lal nodded her head and Skull smiled. "Okay, I'm going to need to put on my gear, so you can wait downstairs and I'll call you when I'm ready, okay?"

She only nodded her head again, not trusting herself to speak. She had seen the muscles that he had on his arms, she wondered if he had muscle elsewhere. She grabbed her bag and proceeded to walk out of his room, pretending to not really close his door properly. She looked through the gap and watched as he ripped his shirt off over his head.

What Lal saw next was just so beautiful. His body had definitely been sun kissed by the sun of Italy and his tone was good. His abs were on for show as he stood in front of his mirror, so Lal could see his reflection. She wanted to do nothing more than run her hands slowly down from his chest, all the way down to that sexy V line that he was sporting.

She quickly turned away and tiptoed down the stairs. She was so thankful for the lack of creaks on the floorboard that lay under the carpet and she managed to get down without making any noise to signal to the teen upstairs that she had been up there, watching him remove his shirt.

She noticed Skull's mama was watching TV and she made her way to the woman. She watched as the older purple haired lady brightened up when she saw her. "Oh, are you going home? Where's Skull, he knows he's supposed to see off his guests to the door!"

"Oh no, I'm going to watch Skull train for the competition next month. He said that I was allowed to watch him." Lal smiled at the older woman and couldn't help but remember what happened to her.

She must have seen the upset look on Lal's face and came forward to give her a hug. "Are you okay? School okay? Oh God, is your dad okay?!" The woman started fussing and Lal laughed a little bit.

"Everyone is fine Aunty Isabelle. It's just that...Skull told me about...two years ago..."

The woman named Isabelle stopped and stared at Lal as if she was trying to guess what the hell she was talking about. She finally understood and sighed, sitting Lal on the sofa and sitting next to her with a smile.

"Honey, I'm fine! For Skull to tell you that information, he must really trust you now. Please tell me, what happened to all of you two years ago?"

There was pain in the older woman's eyes as she was wondering why the group split up so suddenly. She was worried about her son. He was cheerful at home, but she knew outside of the home, he didn't hang out with anyone except from Luce.

Lal sighed. "We all got caught up in different things. I started dating Colonnello who I was literally head over heels for. Viper got in with the wrong crowd through her own boyfriend. Basically, we were all a mess and it looks like Skull and Luce were the only ones who didn't let puberty get to them."

The woman gave her an understanding nod before smiling. "And now? What made you become friends again?"

"Colonnello was cheating on me, so I dumped him. I went out for some fresh air and Skull was there. Suddenly, this wave of emotion came over me as I cried into his back about how sorry I am. I didn't even care about the break up!" Lal laughed a little bit before blushing.

"But Skull is really a good friend, I just wished that I had seen that instead of letting the excitement of me getting my first boyfriend get the better of me."

Lal sighed, thinking about the boy upstairs and suddenly, Isabelle spoke up again. "You like Skull."

It wasn't even a question because Isabelle was so sure that she was right. Lal nodded her head, not looking at the woman just in case she dies of embarrassment.

"I do. I realised when I broke up with Colonnello that I haven't liked him in a long time and that I was just trying to make things work. I was only upset that he was seeing someone behind my back and not breaking up with me instead. That would have saved so much time. Skull is a nice guy who finishes last, but not anymore! I plan on telling him how I feel when he wins next month. You don't think it's too fast, right?"

Isabelle started clapping as she jumped up. "That is so nice! Well, I hope it goes well, I'm rooting for you both. And the heart wants what the heart wants, don't think about it. I always knew that you and Skull had a different connection that Skull did with Viper. They were more like brother and sister, you guys were a bit...different."

They then heard running on the stairs and Skull poked his head through. "Hey Mama, I'm going to ride. See you in a bit?"

His mama waved him off and Skull motioned with his head that Lal should follow him. Isabelle gave Lal a knowing look and it made her blush before she followed the guy that she's been crushing on. He grabbed his bike from the garage, the walkie talkie, his earpiece and helmet. Lal offered to hold everything in the bag for him as they made his way up to the field.

"So I'm just going to do a few run laps and then we can start the timing. Basically, at every 5 minute interval, I need you to tell me and you need to do this for half an hour. If you come over to the room over there, I can show you how to set it up."

Lal nodded her head and followed him. "So the computer here is linked to track so that it can measure how far I travel in half an hour. My dad usually takes the stopwatch out with him because he can sync it with the computer because he's had practice over the years. If you want, you can stay in the room and talk to me from there."

"I think I'll do it from here. I get to sit down as well."

Skull laughed and nodded his head, gently grabbing his helmet from Lal's hands, and they both brushed each other's hands. Skull kept himself contained, but when he looked at Lal, she seemed to be looking a bit red which confused him a little bit, as well as make him smirk. He put his gloves on before pushing his helmet on his head.

"Okay, I'll be heading out now. Oh wait, let me put in the time and date so that we can save it."

By this time, Lal had already sat down in the seat and Skull had to lean over her to type in all the information. Lal's face went up in flames once more as she breathed in deep. His scent was all around her and she wanted to cling onto him and breathe in nothing but _him_.

"There you go. Remember, every 5 minutes, tell me."

Lal nodded, and watched him as he made his way out. She watched him walk to his bike and he walked with so much confidence. She faltered a little as she saw a flashback of all the times she saw his back. She promised herself that she will never see his back again. She looked down at the computer, remembering how they weren't even there for him when his mama had cancer. She wiped a lone tear from her eye and listened out for his okay.

She watched him do his practice laps and although she couldn't see his face, she could tell that he was grinning with excitement, doing something that he loved, no one holding him back, all his troubles flying away behind him because they're all too slow to keep up. Lal smiled at the thought of it before she heard Skull's voice crackle through on the radio.

"I'm ready now!"

She smiled as she saw him rev up his engine and she got the timer ready. "Okay, ready, set...GO!"

He was off like a shot, bending round those corners, swiftly and sharply. Sometimes, Lal found herself holding her breath, but she remembered that Skull had been practicing on this track for years because it was his own personal one, there was no way that he could mess up here. Still, she wished and prayed for nothing but his safety. She didn't want to see him crash and burn right in front of her.

Half an hour was slow in her eyes, but she watched Skull with every bit of interest. She always did have a thing for guys who liked the extreme, hence her choice in guys where Colonnello was concerned. It was just a shame that most of the more extreme guys were your typical bad boys, but not Skull. He honestly had a heart of gold and he would make such a good boyfriend.

Eventually, Skull skidded to a halt and Lal saved his time before walking about to him. He put two hands on his helmet and took it off of his head, shaking his hair out, much like the first time that Lal had seen him ride and once again, she felt weak at the knees just watching him do that in front of her. He grinned at her which received a grin back.

"How did I do?"

"You're amazing!" She beamed at him, almost as if she were gushing at him. She had to keep all composure and make it look like she wasn't that excited, but she couldn't do it. Skull was making Lal look extremely soft and many people would have thought that it's the end of the world because of how cutesy she was acting in front of Skull.

"I was wondering, can you teach me how to ride? It just looks like so much fun..."

She trailed off when Skull caught her eyes and she blushed, opting to look down at the ground instead. She felt him put his arms around her and he sent her a spine shivering smirk. Honestly, when did Skull get to look so hot?

"Sure, but I'm getting on the bike behind you. Wait here and let me get the other helmet from the timing hut." She watched him jog back into the hut and her mind was still trying to process what he had just told her. He was going to get on the bike...behind her...

He came back out and gave her the spare helmet to put on while he put his own on as well. He then sat on his bike and moved back, making space in front of him. He looked over at Lal who was now staring at him, as if she had changed her mind.

"Hey, you'll be okay. I'm here aren't I?"

That was enough to make Lal smile and nod her head. She trusted him and she knew that he wouldn't let her drive the bike out of control or crash. She got on in front of him and he took her hands in his and put them on the brake and throttle. She bit her lip at the contact that he had on her hands and she was so conscious about how her back was up against his front. She loved it.

"Okay, you see this? This is the gas. First of all, twist this one because it's the brake. Good. Then twist the gas. We won't move don't worry. I've got my hand on yours for control if you get out of hand, don't worry."

Lal blew out air from her mouth as she revved the engine. Skull was so calm about it, not even scared if she did drive them out of control. His voice was smooth and calm and patient with her.

"Okay, we're going to release the brake, and at the same time, we going to use the gas okay? Not too much so that we go slowly, but not too little so that we don't tip, okay?"

Lal nodded and they did just that. Her heart started racing when realised that they were moving, and in her panic, she almost hit the throttle too hard, but Skull's presence was enough to calm her down. Skull's legs dangled in case they went too slowly and ended up falling over.

They were both grinning. Lal was happy that she seemed to stay in control of the bike and Skull was grinning because he was happy that Lal was getting the hang of it.

"Wow, this is so cool, I not so bad!"

The moment she said that, she threw the throttle too far forward and they jolted at a high speed very suddenly. Lal's glee turned into horror as she literally started screaming and threw her hands into the air. Skull knew from the moment that those words left her lips, she was going to jinx it and he was right.

He calmly slowed the bike down before he came to a gentle stop. Lal had managed to twist around and was clinging onto him for dear life before she scowled. She looked up to see a smirk on his lips, as if he was trying his best not to burst out laughing.

"Go on. Laugh. I dare you, maggot."

"Oh, I don't think I'm the maggot in this situation Lal." He burst out laughing anyway and she punched him in the shoulder, making him laugh even harder.

"Oh man, the way you jinxed it for yourself as well! Got to admit, it was hilarious."

Lal growled. "We're doing it again! Come on!"

She moved over to the bike and hauled it up roughly, but not so rough that Skull would yell at her to be careful or something. Skull was still smiling when she turned back around to look at him. She noticed him staring and she raised an eyebrow, even though she was blushing lightly.

"What?"

Skull ignored her question as he walked up to her and stuck his helmet back on. Lal watched as he sat on the bike and waited for her to get on. She rolled her eyes when she realised that he won't answer her.

As soon as she put her hand on the throttle and brake, she felt Skull's hands find their way on her hips. She jumped but relaxed, enjoying the warmth his hand was emitting. She melted into him and sighed softly. She was drowning in him and she loved it.

"I was just thinking of how much I'm glad that you're back in my life."

Lal hit the throttle.

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So how was that? Did you enjoy it? I certainly did have fun writing it. Even if no one were to read it, I would still just post up the story because I want to. Sure it will be slow updates, but I won't give up on the story.

Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods!

Lolita-love,

Lolita-chan


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